--- title: North Korea Issues Rare Public Apology After Building Collapse | TIME description: As many as 92 families might have been living in the 23-story Pyongyang building, resulting in hundreds of deaths. North Korea blames the collapse on shoddy construction. canonical: https://time.com/video/v8DDh7RU/ og:title: North Korea Issues Rare Public Apology After Building Collapse og:description: As many as 92 families might have been living in the 23-story Pyongyang building, resulting in hundreds of deaths. North Korea blames the collapse on shoddy construction. og:url: https://time.com/video/v8DDh7RU/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/v8DDh7RU/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: North Korea Issues Rare Public Apology After Building Collapse twitter:description: As many as 92 families might have been living in the 23-story Pyongyang building, resulting in hundreds of deaths. North Korea blames the collapse on shoddy construction. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/v8DDh7RU/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # North Korea Issues Rare Public Apology After Building Collapse > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: North Korea Issues Rare Public Apology After Building Collapse [Watch (HLS stream): North Korea Issues Rare Public Apology After Building Collapse](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/v8DDh7RU.m3u8) (2:00)  _Published 2014-05-18. As many as 92 families might have been living in the 23-story Pyongyang building, resulting in hundreds of deaths. North Korea blames the collapse on shoddy construction._ --- Jul 27, 2023 4:40 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Undeterred by Summit Collapse, South Korea's Moon Vows Closer Ties With the North](/video/2rFkPEOJ/) ### Undeterred by Summit Collapse, South Korea's Moon Vows Closer Ties With the North [Report: North Korea Is Building New Missiles](/video/bkxIszb7/) ### Report: North Korea Is Building New Missiles [After Rare Talks With the South, North Korea Will Send a Delegation to the Winter Olympics](/video/UmqCoEHR/) ### After Rare Talks With the South, North Korea Will Send a Delegation to the Winter Olympics --- ## Transcript In a rare public statement, North Korean officials have issued an apology for an apartment building collapse in the reclusive nation's capital, Pyongyang. DC- based NK News published the statement from the North state- run Korean Central News Agency, which reported that the building collapsed last week with a major rescue operation concluding Saturday. The apology blames the collapse on shoddy construction coupled with poor supervision. While it mentions there were casualties, there was no official death toll. Citing an official from South Korea's Unification Ministry, CNN reports as many as 92 families may have been living in the 23 story building, resulting in hundreds of deaths. The statement said North Korean leader Kim Jong- un sat up all night feeling painful after learning of the accident. He then quote, instructed leading officials of the party, state and army to rush to the scene. The New York Times writes under Kim's rule, North Korea has initiated a slew of building projects, including a ski resort, amusement parks and tall apartment buildings in Pyongyang and elsewhere. The Washington Post reports it may have been this increasing construction projects using so called soldier builders mandated to work at top speed that led to the collapse. As a nation that relies heavily on propaganda, North Korea isn't known for publicizing its failures. That's why the construction accident statement is so notable. A North Korean watcher in Seoul tells NK News that it may have something to do with the difficulty in hiding the accident from foreign media. So they admitted it. KCNA understood that the incident could not possibly be hidden from foreigners. And a correspondent for the BBC notes the parallels to South Korea's recent ferry disaster. North Korea enthusiastically joined the criticism of the South Korean president and publicized details of the disaster. Perhaps it now feels obliged to put on a display of accountability and contrition for its own people, who are bound to see the comparison. There have been two other high profile national disasters which North Korea has acknowledged. In 2012 a flood killed more than 100 people, and in 2004 a massive train station explosion injured more than 1, 000. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"North Korea Issues Rare Public Apology After Building Collapse","description":"As many as 92 families might have been living in the 23-story Pyongyang building, resulting in hundreds of deaths. North Korea blames the collapse on shoddy construction.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/v8DDh7RU/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-05-18T17:00:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/v8DDh7RU.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/v8DDh7RU/","duration":"PT2M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/v8DDh7RU/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```