This 2019 September file photo shows under-construction apartments in North Korea's northern city of Samjiyon. AFP-Yonhap

North Korea is accelerating the drive to construct new apartment buildings in its capital city, state media showed Sunday, as it aims to provide 10,000 new homes within this year and 40,000 more by 2025.

North Korea has cleared tens of thousands of square meters of land in the western Pyongyang area of Mangyongdae to build more homes, according to its official Rodong Sinmun newspaper and Uriminzokkiri, a propaganda website.

North Korea claims Mangyongdae is the birthplace of Kim Il-sung, its founding leader and the late grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.

The Rodong Sinmun also said the North has recently completed the construction of new apartment buildings of more than 100 units in the eastern district of Pyongyang.

During the eighth congress of the ruling Workers' Party meeting in January, the North decided to build 50,000 apartments in Pyongyang by 2025, with the goal of creating 10,000 units annually.

In March, Kim attended a ceremony to break ground on building the 10,000 apartments in the capital and urged officials to push ahead with the project despite challenges that are "harsher than ever before."

The North's mass-scale construction project comes amid several economic challenges, including crippling international sanctions and protracted efforts to ward off the coronavirus pandemic. (Yonhap)