North Korea is building sanatoriums for veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War across the country as part of policies implemented by leader Kim Jong-un, a US-based broadcaster said Thursday.

Curtis Melvin, a researcher at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, told Radio Free Asia that an analysis of satellite photos taken on Oct. 4 suggests the construction of such facilities for those who survived the three-year conflict.

According to Melvin, the North is building the veterans' sanatoriums in Sariwon in North Hwanghae Province, Sokam in South Pyongan Province, Yongchon in North Hamgyong Province and Hamju in South Hamgyong Province, in addition to one already built on Pyongyang's Mount Ryongak that was introduced in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the North's ruling party organ.

These facilities are being built in the same style, he said.

The Mount Ryongak Veteran Sanatorium, a two-story building on a site of 3,100 square meters, is equipped with a swimming pool, a barbershop, a gym, a recreation room, a photography shop, a library, a clinic, a massage parlor and a restaurant. (Yonhap)