In June 2020, the iconic Changgwangwon Health Complex in North Korea celebrated its 40th anniversary. The complex is known among Pyongyang residents for having a good, reliable water management system despite the age of the facilities. But over the past 40 years, the tragic story of the designer behind this acclaimed water management system has been lost to history.
The man’s story begins in the late 1970s when Kim Jong Il sought to cement his position as successor and “Dear Leader” by pouring resources into the construction of public recreational facilities. At that time, the Pyongyang Municipal Construction Enterprise recommended Oh Pyong-joon, an ordinary designer in his 40s, to help design and build the Changgwangwon Health Complex.
At the heart of the Changgwangwon complex construction project was the question of how to handle the water management system. The construction manager and officials in charge of the project were considering a system for filtering and reusing water from the swimming pools and baths when Oh made the novel suggestion of drawing clean water from the nearby Taedong River instead.
Ultimately, Oh’s proposal won out among the various solutions presented to Kim Jong Il and the Workers’ Party, and his system was implemented. The Changgwangwon Health Complex with Oh’s water management system was successfully opened on Mar. 21, 1980. Oh was later recognized for his contribution, awarded the title of “Meritorious Designer” and promoted to a new position as a cabinet-level official.
Ten years after the Changgwangwon complex opened to the public, a party-affiliated historical research institute told a slightly different story. The new historical records claimed that “at the time, all the officials involved in the construction project proposed a filtration system, but Dear Leader Kim Jong Il insisted that the people’s service [public recreation] facilities must have the highest possible water quality and made the decision to draw water directly from the Taedong River to provide fresh, clean water at all times.”
Although Oh, the mastermind behind the idea, learned of this new story, he never revealed the truth of the matter, even to his own wife and child. Believing that his fate and his child’s future depended on the Kim leadership and the party, Oh kept his head down and focused his energy on the tasks he was given. A loyal and dedicated worker, he quietly spent his life devoted to the nation.
An out-of-the-blue purge
Oh worked hard and eventually retired. Then, early one morning in September 2014, ten officials from the Special Security Division of the Ministry of Social Security and the Military Security Command stormed into the Oh family’s home in the Kyonghyung neighborhood of Pyongyang’s Central District.