Pyongyang has changed its looks radically year after year in the last decades.

President Kim Il Sung opened up a new history of building a democratic capital more than 60 years ago. Under his wise leadership, the Pyongyang citizens completed in 55 days the Pothong River improvement project which the Japanese imperialists said it would be impossible to carry out the project in ten years.

After the war, the constructors created the "Pyongyang Speed" of assembling one flat in 14 minutes in different parts of the city, thus realizing into reality the blueprint for the rehabilitation and construction of Pyongyang City worked out by the President on the operation table of the Supreme Command during the war.

In accordance with the grand plan for capital construction of General Secretary Kim Jong Il who is true to the noble intention of the President, Pyongyang has been facelifted splendidly as the capital of socialist Korea.

Streets, dwelling houses and public buildings have been built with the statue of the President standing on Mansu Hill as the centre.

The past decades have witnessed the construction of many monumental edifices in the capital city, including the Tower of the Juche Idea, the Arch of Triumph, the Mansudae Art Theatre, the Mansudae Assembly Hall, the Grand People's Study House, the People's Palace of Culture, the Pyongyang Indoor Stadium, the Changgwang Health Complex, the Ice Rink, Chollima Street, Rakwon Street, Changgwang Street, Kwangbok Street and Thongil Street.

In the new century the streets from Pyongyang Station to Ryonmot-dong and the bank of the River Taedong were spruced amazingly to suit the requirements of the Songun era.

Cultural and public catering bases of the capital such as the Taedongmun Cinema, the Okryu Restaurant and the Chongnyu Restaurant were wonderfully reconstructed last year. This year, too, dwelling houses and public buildings in the city were tiled or painted with distemper of different bright colors and sidewalks were paved with color blocks.

Housing construction and projects for renovating cultural facilities and public catering establishments are under way in various parts of the city.