North Korea said Thursday it plans to open a new airport terminal in Pyongyang in July that expresses the country's national identity.

The Korean Central News Agency said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toured Terminal 2 of Pyongyang International Airport which will open on July 1. The dispatch did not give details about the date of his visit.

The North began building the second terminal for the international airport, the main gateway to Pyongyang, in 2012. The new terminal is expected to be used for international flights while an existing terminal may be transferred to that for domestic flights.

The KCNA said that Kim was "very satisfied" to see the terminal was well built in harmony with modern aesthetic taste and national character.

It added that Kim commanded a bird's-eye view of the terminal from his plane, together with his wife Ri Sol-ju.

In November last year, Kim inspected the construction site of the terminal, instructing officials to modify the structure to highlight national identity.

Kim reportedly purged Ma Won-chun, director of the designing department at the North's powerful National Defense Commission, holding him accountable for the failure to boost national character in the terminal from the beginning.

The North's leader also instructed officials to build a high-speed railway and motorway to ensure that traffic could move smoothly from the airport to the central areas of Pyongyang. (Yonhap)