A deadly Pyongyang building collapse in 2014 might have been avoided if warning signs had been properly heeded by local officials, a recent defector with intimate knowledge of the city's construction sector has told NK News.

North Korean media unexpectedly came clean about the “serious accident”, which caused an unknown number of deaths in May 2014, explaining it as having been caused by officials taking an “irresponsible” approach to supervision, and construction efforts that had not been “done properly."