Running behind schedule on a construction project is nothing unheard of. However, the North Korean builders are using a new, highly dangerous method to maximise the output of their workers and complete the construction of a skyscraper in time.
According to an inside report, the North Korean project managers have resorted to the use of crystal meth to accelerate the work progress on a massive skyscraper being erected in the capital city, Pyongyang.
The 70-storey building is one of the 60 buildings that will be constructed on the Ryomyung Street, Pyongyang. Hundreds of thousands of workers are working on the construction site. The managers are openly supplying drugs to the workers on the site so that they will work faster.
The source reported:
“Project managers at a building site in North Korea’s capital Pyongyang are openly supplying their exhausted workforce with powerful methamphetamine called ‘ice’. [They] are undergoing terrible sufferings in their work.”
North Korean leadership boasted of ushering the country into “ [a] great golden age of construction”, which has added to the pressure of accelerating the development work on the projects. However, quite a few projects, including the ambitious Ryugyong Hotel, are years behind their proposed schedule.
The building site has been plastered with graffiti like “Pyongyang speed is drug speed”, leading credence to the rumours of the distribution of crystal meth. The use of crystal meth on a regular basis can cause heart attack and brain damage. One can question the structural safety of the buildings, given that they are being constructed by addicted workers.
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