Roofing in North Korea

North Korea shares the roofing heritage of the whole Korean peninsula: curved roofs of fired clay tiles (giwa) on palaces, temples and elite houses, and rice-straw thatch (choga) on ordinary houses. After the Korean War its capital was rebuilt on a monumental scale, and a distinctive state style emerged that places traditional tiled roofs on large modern buildings.

Climate and hazards

The north of the peninsula has a continental monsoon climate, with hot, wet summers and long, cold winters that are harsher than in the south, so roofs must handle both heavy summer rain and snow and frost.

Roofing history

Ancient. Mumun-period pit houses on the peninsula had thatched roofs over wattle-and-daub walls. Tile technology, which developed in China under the Western Zhou, reached the peninsula with the Chinese commanderies after 108 BCE. The kingdom of Goguryeo, whose later capital was Pyongyang, used patterned roof tiles and ornate bracket systems on its palaces.

Goryeo. The Goryeo dynasty (918-1392) ruled from Kaesong, now in North Korea. Its surviving monuments, including palace remains, the Namdae Gate, the Koryo Songgyungwan academy, the Sungyang Sowon school and royal tombs, form the UNESCO World Heritage site of Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong.

Joseon. As elsewhere in Korea, tiled roofs were used by the upper classes and thatch by most rural households.

Modern. Pyongyang was almost completely destroyed during the Korean War (1950-1953) and was rebuilt as a planned capital, with many large buildings added in the 1980s and 1990s.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Giwa tiled roofs with curved eaves on palaces, temples and gates.
• Choga rice-straw thatch on rural houses.

Roofing today

One strand of official architecture deliberately uses traditional tiled roof designs on modern buildings. Examples include the Grand People's Study House and the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang and the International Friendship Exhibition Hall at Myohyang-san. Other landmarks are modernist, such as the pyramid-shaped, 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel, whose construction was halted from 1992 to 2008 and which had still not opened by the mid-2020s.

Notable roofs

• Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong (UNESCO) - Goryeo-period monuments.
• Grand People's Study House, Pyongyang - monumental building with traditional tiled roofs.
• International Friendship Exhibition Hall, Myohyang-san - tiled roofs in traditional style.

Local roofing terms

The Korean terms are shared with the south: giwa (tile), choga (thatch), cheoma (eaves).

Sources and gaps

Information on present-day housing and roofing practice, the roofing materials of ordinary housing and industrial buildings, building regulation, housing statistics and industry was not found in reliable published sources.