New, modern terminal of Pyongyang Intl Airport put into use

The interior of the newly built terminal of Pyongyang International Airport is seen in this undated picture released by DPRK's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on July 1, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

A total of nine counters (plus one for the disabled) were all opened for immigration check and registration. There are two carousels in the baggage claim area and six security gates. A duty- free shop is open to provide liquors, Swiss chocolates and Korean specialties such as Ginseng liquor and cigarettes like 727, the most expensive domestic cigarettes in the DPRK.

Announcements are continually broadcast in three languages - Korean, Chinese and English - in the terminal hall to inform passengers of flight information.

Airport staff started working around 10:30 am after a completion ceremony that began at 8 am. This is the first day that the new terminal has been put into use after the country's top leader Kim Jong Un inspected it a couple days ago and praised it as a gateway to the capital of Pyongyang "well built in harmony with modern aesthetic taste and national character."

According to the official KCNA news agency, the last time Kim visited the construction site of the terminal in late 2014, he criticized the construction work, noting that there were deviations in the interior layout and that facilities are not distributed to match the space of the terminal.

Kim, who expressed great satisfaction after touring around the new terminal, has called for constructing more buildings "symbolic of the thriving and highly-civilized country" for celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea in the upcoming October.