But, it is a 'show' city. It is the only place where foreigners are allowed, for example. School children do not go to school to learn. They go to school and drill endlessly in song, dance, marching, playing musical instruments, and so on. Then they put on shows for visiting dignitaries, government officials, and tourists. Woe be to the child that makes a mistake. Where 'woe' could include prison camp for them and their family.
Use Google Earth, and look around the city. Then go to some no-name China city and do the same. In Pyongyang the streets are very wide, yet entirely empty. It is thought that part of the emptiness is due to the famine - millions died - but it is also because it is a facade. Entire tall apartment buildings and factories are built - and left empty. Most of the tall buildings, so far as we can tell, are empty. People are employed to mill in and out to give the appearance of business, but Google earth tells the real story - this is a ghost town. I mean truly empty. You'll see a few trucks or cars, and a few people walking around, but otherwise...entirely empty. Meanwhile all of the fake stuff is recorded and transmitted in the weekly propaganda (news) shows. "Great Leader inspects department store and gives advice on how to improve sales". "Young Leader breaks ground on glorious new apartment building project". And so on. They spend millions on this while the people starve. Cannibalism was fairly reliably reported during the famine. A rat was a real treat, if you caught one, but you would be sent to prison camp if caught doing so.
It is an astonishingly bad place run by psychopaths mad on power.