North Korea is racing to complete three expansive luxury mansions inside the Kumsusan guest complex in Pyongyang, each measuring roughly 13,000 square meters, according to satellite analysis by NK News on December 9.
The rapid construction suggests the residences are being prepared to host foreign heads of state in the coming months, alongside work on a nearby new cemetery and museum dedicated to North Korean soldiers killed while fighting in the war against Ukraine.
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Satellite images show unusually fast progress since the project began in late October 2025, when a large support camp was first identified.
Planet Labs imagery reviewed by NK News indicates that by mid-November, foundations for all three mansions were complete, several floors had already been raised, and supporting infrastructure was underway — a pace that analysts say signals a high-priority directive from Pyongyang.
🇰🇵 North Korea is rapidly building three large mansions inside the Kumsusan State Guesthouse complex in Pyongyang, - NK Pro
— MAKS 25 🇺🇦👀 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) December 9, 2025
Top candidates for potential upcoming summits include Putin and Xi, though Trump also offered in October to travel to the DPRK to discuss sanctions relief. pic.twitter.com/xPceAmMNhh
North Korea hasn’t formally announced any planned visits, but Russian leader Vladimir Putin is considered a likely candidate to stay at one of the new residences, NK News added, citing the unprecedented military and economic ties between Moscow and Pyongyang since the war in Ukraine began. Their most recent face-to-face meeting occurred in September 2025 in Beijing during a military parade.
Other potential invitees include Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump. NK News noted that Trump publicly offered in October to travel to North Korea to discuss sanctions—a proposal that surfaced just as construction on the mansions began—though Kim Jong Un has issued no public response.
The scale and speed of the work mirror an earlier effort in 2019, when Pyongyang built two comparable VIP residences in only four months ahead of Xi Jinping’s visit. Those facilities later hosted a rotating slate of senior Russian officials in 2024–2025, including Sergey Shoigu, Andrey Belousov, and Dmitry Medvedev.
Earlier, reports emerged that Russia planned to allocate nearly $10 million in 2026 for joint oil and gas exploration off the coast of North Korea, marking a new step in energy cooperation between the two heavily sanctioned states.
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