The Current Status of Housing Construction and Residential Environment in North Korea
Title
The Current Status of Housing Construction and Residential Environment in North Korea
Alternative Author(s)
Park, Hee-Jin
Publication Year
2021-08-02
Publisher
Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs
Citation
Health and Welfare Policy Forum 2021.8 No.298, pp.37-49
Abstract
이 글은 북한 주민들의 주택 현황, 주거환경에 관한 변화를 고찰하고, 사회계층의 격차라는 내포적 의미를 탐구한 글이다. 북한의 김정은 체제는 90년대 경제난을 ‘단번’에 극복하고, 과학기술로 ‘경제 도약’을 시도하고자 하며, 경기 부양책의 일환으로 건설 경기를 활성화하고 있다. 그리고 북한 당국의 건설 경기 활성화 정책은 주민들에게 긍·부정의 효과를 동시에 보이고 있다. 긍정의 효과는 ‘주택결정권’을 갖게 된 주민들이 스스로 거주공간을 변화시키는 것이며, 부정의 효과는 ‘주택상품화’로 인해 주거생활의 격차를 발생시킨다는 측면이다. 따라서 본 연구는 주택결정권을 가진 북한 주민들의 내 집 꾸미기 현상을 주체성의 측면에서 고찰하고, 주거환경을 둘러싼 생활환경의 변화를 사회계층의 격차라는 측면에서 고찰해 보았다.
This study examines recent changes in the housing and residential environment in North Korea and explores whether these changes mean increased separation of social classes. The Kim Jung-un government in North Korea has overcome all at once the financial difficulties they had in the 90’s and attempts to achieve ‘economic improvement’ with scientific technology and promotes the constructionsector as a pump-priming policy. However, the North Korean government’s policy to boost the construction business has brought both positive and negative impacts on the residents. For the positive impact, the residents who have their ‘right to their own homes’ are encouraged to change their own living space, while the negative impact is that there have been disparities in the living environment between groups of people as ‘housing has become commercialized.’ Therefore, this study aims to discover how North Koreans with home ownership are taken to decorating their homes on their own and takes a look at how changes in their residential and living environment have taken place, giving rise to social disparities.
