Quick Take: Chongjin’s Sunam Market Suffered Collapsed Roof Under Heavy Snow

Way before the launch of North Korea’s newest warship went spectacularly wrong at the Chongjin Port, the city suffered another calamity. In late January 2025, heavy snowfall in and around Chongjin caused major damage to the roof of the city’s main marketplace. The incident was never reported by state media, but was spotted during a satellite imagery review this week.

Markets are major sources of food and household goods in North Korea and the damage caused by the collapse, beyond the immediate effects on stall holders, would likely have caused disruption to daily lives.

Roof Damage

According to a Korean Central Television broadcast, a major snowstorm began across North Korea on January 26. By 8pm on January 27, 11 centimeters of snow had fallen across North Hamgyong province, home to Chongjin. Such amounts are not unusual for North Korean winters.

However, overnight between January 27 and January 28, a much greater amount of snow was forecast to fall in the area surrounding Chongjin. KCTV weather forecasts issued a heavy snow warning and predicted that accumulation would be between 30- and 50-centimeters.

Coupled with the snow, a strong wind warning was also issued in expectation of winds between 10- and 15-meters per second.

By the time the snow abated late on January 28, North Hamgyong province had gotten 43 centimeters of snow, according to KCTV. That was the most accumulation across the country.

Sunam Market sits near the center of Sunam District in Chongjin and consists of two large structures that house hundreds of market stalls.

The western structure is approximately 100 meters by 60 meters and is covered by three curved roof sections; the eastern structure is approximately 60 meters by 70 meters and has five curved roof sections.

The roofs of both buildings were fully intact on an image taken on January 25, immediately before the snowstorm. By January 30, several roof sections on both structures appeared to have collapsed.

The extent of the damage is unclear, and it is unknown if there were any casualties. However, it is likely that any market stalls under the collapsed roof sections would have been severely damaged or destroyed.

Over the following days, the debris under the collapsed sections was removed and the remaining snow on the roof was cleared. An image from early February shows only the market roof clear of snow.

By May 12, the eastern side of the market had been repaired, and the two collapsed roof sections had been replaced with a new roof made up of three narrower sections.

The damaged roof over the western building remains unrepaired as of early June.