This study aims to improve the residential environment in North Korea. The results are summarized as follows : 1) Houses in North Korea are classified according to the class of people who are subject to move into the country. In particular, due to shortage of materials and construction equipment, the conditions of finishing materials are very poor. Also, insulation performance of buildings is very weak. 2) Out of insulation materials used in South Korea, six types(EPS, XPS, Reflective Insulation, Polyurethane Foam, Glass Wool, Polyester Board) were selected; low thermal conductivity (about 0.04W/mK) and high fire resistance, constructability and economy (about 10,000 won per unit area). Among them, polyurethane foam was found to be the best in insulating performance, and EPS had high constructability and Reflective Insulation had economical merit. 3) Heating load simulation showed that the thermal performance of poor North Korean houses such as Harmonica houses and Rural cultural houses could be improved by 40-80% depending on the application of insulation materials.