Here is an interesting video with what I consider some pretty rare footage (If there is more, please let me know). When the footage was taken is not known to me, but it looks like after the Korean War and what seems to be when they started rebuilding. Anyway, it is still worth the watch:
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No tour of the DPRK is complete without stopping by the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in Pyongyang. I did a little research on it, and while there is not a huge amount of information on it, I will post what I can regarding it. For those that have visited this oddity, please feel free to add your own thoughts, experiences and corrections to this posting, please do so.
On the right is the Google Earth image of the museum, and you can see the little details and a bird’s eye view of it. There are other pictures of the inside, but since almost all the pictures are copyrighted by the authors of the pictures, I will simply link the images to the page and not re-upload them here. If you are the author of some of these images and grant permission for DPRK Forum to use them, I would be grateful, and please say so in the comments. Otherwise, you will have to see them over there. However, there is a nice YouTube video of the tour, but this particular video not show the rotating war room:
Typarker gives some account of this museum:
In North Korea, the Korean War is called the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War, and our next stop was the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum. The museum was interesting in that it was a physical representation of all of the anti-American feelings we War Museum had heard since being there. It was definitely worth seeing, but completely filled my quota of Korean-War-from-a-North-Korean-perspective talks I’d need for a while.
That is all fair and good, but what is the history behind this thing? I dug around, and it was very difficult to find. There is a brief description on the KCNA page:
Pyongyang, August 17 (KCNA) — 45 years have passed since the victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum was established. The museum systematically shows the enduring feats of the President Kim Il Sung in leading the Fatherland Liberation War (June 1950-july 1953) to victory. Its predecessor, the fatherland liberation war memorial,was opened to public on August 17, 1953, and expanded into the present victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in April Juche 63 (1974). It is located on the Pothong River. It has 80 odd rooms. On display there are materials showing the feats the President performed in the army building during the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle and the democratic revolution. Exhibited are data on military achievements made by all arms and services of the Korean People’s Army on several stages of operations during the Fatherland Liberation War and materials showing the struggle of people in the rear. Also exhibited are materials on the brutal atrocities of the U.S. imperialists and their defeat. The museum has over 70 semi-panoramic pictures and model boards, among them halls with a cyclorama on the operation of liberating Taejon and a semi-panoramic picture on the battle of attack on height 351. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the War Victory Day, the monument to victory in the Fatherland Liberation War was built on a large scale in the vicinity of the museum. War veterans are now working as lecturers at the museum. The museum has been visited so far by nearly 17 million people since its opening.
That is some information about the history, but since this is the KCNA, of course, propaganda is interwoven. So much for fair and balanced reporting. If other readers have information on the history of this oddity, please let me know.
Some links to pictures and accounts:
Pictures of a trip to the DPRK including the war museum
Account 3 This part was pretty funny to read:
[...]
The War Museum in Pyongyang serves to promulgate the North Korean version of the war. We were met by a stout museum guide who, like almost all of her colleagues in NK, spoke no English (our guides translated) and seemed to be delivering a memorized monologue. The tour took about 2 hours, but I think it could’ve easily have been shortened to one hour if they just said ‘Kim Il Sung’ instead of `The Supreme Leader Generalissimo Kim Il Sung’ and `America’ instead of `The Imperialist American Aggressor’.
[...]
There are other accounts, but a more comprehensive history may be a little better. On the other hand, such information may be a little hard to come by.
Sphere: Related ContentThis is the Korea segment of the Cold War series on Google Video. If this is not allowed to be posted here, please let me know. Otherwise, enjoy:
Sphere: Related ContentI ran into a pretty odd story on Google News today:
A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty.
(I removed links, added emphasis and linked to the declassified document) We do remember the McCarthy era, and while that is a very touchy subject, I will try to avoid the partisan divide and the possible conspiracy theories linked to this story. I do have my opinions on the McCarthy era, that is not really the focus of this posting. With explosive topics such as this, I will let the reader make his or her own mind up as to the implications of such moves past and present, because from that, we can decide for ourselves how the future will be and I will leave it a that.
The purpose of this article is to show the historical documents for you folk to sift through. There are many declassified documents in the PDF linked, so you will have more than enough time to read it and see the whole thing for yourself. It will take me a while to read it all, and the letter in question is found on pages 18-20:
Continue reading ‘J. Edgar Hoover and mass jailings?’
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One of the more interesting oddities I have read about are the tunnels under the DMZ.
According to north Korean defectors, Kim Il-Sung — president of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — issued a sweeping order in the early 1970s that required every Korean People’s Army division along the Demilitarized Zone to dig and maintain at least two tunnels into South Korea. The opposing United Nations Command had been aware of an earlier north Korean tunneling effort that never became an actuality, but was surprised when new evidence came up that indicated the north was hard at work underground again.
(Emphasis mine) I do not know where the source of this information is, but I am very interested in finding it. Since the DPRK side will obviously have no information on such projects, it would be interesting to read any declassified information on these tunnels. If anybody has any good source material, let me know. This goes on to say:
On November 15, 1974 (Subscription) while in operation in the western DMZ near Korangpo, allied reconnaissance troops found steam rising from the earth’s surface indicating that a tunnel was present underneath the DMZ. The tunnels depth is believed to be some 45 meters, has a total length of 3,500 meters of which 1,000 meters invaded into the DMZ. The tunnel is along a course that would have exiting soldiers heading towards Korango, Uijongbu and is some 65 km from Seoul, 8 km northeast of Korangpo. It has a prefabricated wall of concrete and slate. When discovered, there were 220-volt and 60-watt lamps, electric lines, railways, and track vehicles. The ground is inclined by 5 degrees to the north to prevent water from gathering. There are turning points on the railroad. The tunnel is large enough to allow the transit of a regiment of troops and heavy artillery every hour.
Pretty impressive if you ask me. I am not sure if people visiting the DMZ get to see these tunnels. I am pretty certain the North side does not conduct such tours, but I could be wrong. The other tunnel discoveries are found in this article (Subscription).
More information on the tunnels are here, here, here(Small blurbs and a map) and here (PDF: This also gives a list of provocations by the North. An interesting read).
I can barely imagine the man-hours, intensive labor and the horrors of working on these tunnels. The risk must of been very great, and at least the first tunnel caused loss of life when investigating these tunnel from the South side. As for the North, I can only speculate, but the work must of been very hard.
Do other readers know more about this oddity? I would be truly grateful.
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This article got me thinking a lot, and the food shortages in North Korea seem to be getting worse and worse.
[...]
According to the survey results, which were announced Thursday, North Korea’s gross production of grains such as rice, corn and wheat, was about 4.01 million tons in 2007, down about 470,000 tons from the year before.
North Korea reportedly needs 6.5 million tons of grain to meet domestic demand, meaning it is facing a shortfall of about 2.49 million tons.
Especially devastating were torrential rains in August and a typhoon in September that hit the Korean Peninsula, which resulted in the flooding of about 11 percent of rice paddies in the country. As a result, rice production was 1.53 million tons, down by 360,000 tons from the previous year.
[...]
(Emphasis mine) North Korea’s food shortages are not new, and while I am not a farmer, I have read several places the land has been so overworked and the hills so stripped bare for fuel, the floods made the crops fare even worse. This article shows an eerie foretelling of the events of August 2007:
Photographs which depict a lush, rural environment are misleading. The country needs an average of 1m metric tonnes in food aid a year.
Yes, we have heard about the model farms before, but after the flooding, even some of the best crops were eradicated. Yes, in North Korea, image is everything, but it seems to me the facade is fading fast with the walls cracking and the real face showing behind it. The more that is shown, the bleaker it becomes. After a while, no amount of “spin” will make it better. In my mind, it is only a matter of time before everything is clear to everybody, and that will not be pretty for anybody.
“North Korea is not an agrarian country,” said Kathi Zellweger, a frequent visitor to the country with aid organisation Caritas. It is mostly rugged mountain terrain, and only about 18% is arable.
It is dependent on fertilizer and machinery to make that land productive, both of which are expensive.
Fertilizer and spare parts seem to be a very serious problem. With a growing population, the demand for more food rises (and you guessed it), the State cannot deliver when there is little to farm the land with. As the article goes on to suggest not only natural disasters takes its toll on food production, but decades of political central mismanagement of the Kims made things even worse (Among other things: see One Free Korea’s review of Marcus Noland and Stephen Haggard’s book on the famine - Markets, Aid and Reform as must read):
[...]
“If their farm produces five times as much, they don’t get five times as much food,” he said. Instead, they concentrate on their own private plots, which they use to feed themselves and to produce food for the markets.
The problem with this system is that market reforms, instituted in 2002, have sent prices soaring at a higher rate than wages. “Who can afford this stuff in the markets?” asked Mr French.
The answer: only the elite. Government officials, senior managers of state enterprises, security forces, and the leadership of the army are all unlikely to go hungry.
But a typical urban family can now only afford to buy 4kg of maize - the cheapest commodity - a month.
[...]
As Children of the Secret State suggested, the poor are only left with crumbs. The article only goes further to show a bleaker picture:
The urban diet is partly made up of a ration provided by the government, but this has dropped from 300-250g of cereals per person per day. North Korean officials have told the WFP they expect it to slump to 200g a day.
“The rural folk have already learned how to cope,” said Tim Peters, director of aid agency Helping Hands Korea. “But the urban people are so dependent on the government for distribution.”
As a result, foreign donations that have helped to prop North Korea up in previous years are doubly important this year.
To date, only 270,000 of the 500,000 tonnes of food needed for 2005 has arrived, the WFP says.
Then the prediction comes:
And there is always the risk of natural disaster.
Floods exacerbated the extreme food shortages 10 years ago, and North Korea’s ability to cope with them “is now probably worse”, said Mr French.
Ongoing land clearance has destroyed natural water breaks, “so it all just comes flooding down”.
…and that is precisely what happened with the major floods of August 2007. Then a little while later, a typhoon hits making the situation even worse. Not a lot has been said as to the result of the 2006 floods and how many people are perishing as a result of it, but the ROK did deliver tons and tons of food/medicine aid to the stricken North. If that helped, I am not sure of. However, one thing is clear. North Korea cannot continue to go on like this, and the people at some point are going to rebel especially if the food shortages hit the elite and/or KPA. It seems like it is happening already.
The DailyNK also paints the same shortfall with some reservations. What was the reservation?
[...]
A North Korean expert observed, “Due to the flood this year, the overall crop yield was reduced, but the products from North Korea’s paddy fields which are spread all over the place do not count in official statistics. When considering the food support from the outside world, the food shortage is not at a worrisome level.”
[...]
So this quote suggests the aid seems to be helping some, but I have to say this is still only a band-aid. I simply cannot see this level of suffering going on much longer without a lot of problems. However, I could be wrong, and have been wrong before. Also:
A majority of defectors insisted that the agricultural production level from North Korea’s individually cultivated lands (including paddy fields and fields attached to homes) will surpass the cooperative farms’ 30% standard.
So again, time will only tell, but along with the other news and rumors floating around including a lot of “firsts” for the reclusive regime tells me volumes. Something is changing in North Korea, and it may be bittersweet.
Also, see:
Food Security in North Korea: Designing Realistic Possibilities (PDF)
Famine and Reform in North Korea (PDF - Marcus Noland)
Hunger and Human Rights- The Politics of Famine in North Korea (PDF Haggard, Noland)
Edit: See One Free Korea
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I have been wanting to do this for quite some time, and while I should be finishing the propaganda series, I thought this would be something I want to post instead. The Cold War lasted for many decades, and while it is considered over by many people, for Korea, the Cold War never ended. The division is still there, and Panmunjom is the most visible of the division of ideologies.
I went ahead and looked around for some interesting tidbits in the Cold War Archives and other places to gain a better understanding of the thought process of North Korea and the Korean War.
Not only does this archive cover Korea, it covers other countries as well, and has a host of declassified documents and exchanges with leaders. It is a very interesting read, and it would do the site an injustice to highlight just a few things.
Some other stuff:
Cold War Studies at Harvard University
Declassified Korean War Documents
More Korean War documents at Kimsoft
Enjoy the archives. If you know of any other archives that may be of interest to readers, please let me know and I will make sure to add it to the resources.
Sphere: Related ContentFrom the NY Times archives: See the reports on Kim Il Sung’s death. I do not know if you need to be a subscriber to see it, but from what I know, the archive is open, and do not need to pay to see the archives. Some interesting links:
The? two? day? funeral? for? Kim? Il? Sung
North Koreans Begin a 2-Day Funeral for Kim
By ANDREW POLLACK,
Published: July 19, 1994
The glass coffin containing the body of Kim Il Sung was carried through the streets of North Koreas capital in a motorcade this morning as funeral proceedings began for the self-proclaimed Great Leader who ruled the Communist nation for nearly five decades. The final ceremonies, which are to last two days, cap a 10-day frenzy of mourning intended not only to say goodbye to the only leader North Korea has ever known, but also to pave the emotional pathway for the assumption of power by his son and chosen successor, Kim Jong Il. The transition seems to have been unexpectedly smooth, though there is no precedent for a dynastic succession in a Communist country.
There was a corection to the story and the coffin was opaque and not glass. It was not known then, but is well known today Kim Jong Il was firmly in power, Kim Il Sung is in his huge palace, and the hero worship after his death just intensified. It is interesting to note how little is known about North Korea until after the fact, and even then, it is difficult to guage.
Continue reading ‘Kim Il Sung’s death on the NY Times’
In the last installation of the oddity series, I discussed one of the most sacred places in the DPRK, and that was the Kumsusan Memorial Palace. Today, we look at another sacred monument: The Tower of the Juche Idea. The monument is all over the place from the mass games to the currency. Yes, the images of the Kims are everywhere, and most things in North Korea, most if not all of everything has to do with the Kims, the Juche Idea and the hatred of everything else. It does not seem to waver.
The Tower of the Juche Idea seems to be very well known and is one of the stops in the tours. However, what is the story behind the Tower? Here is a link to a page that gives some clues:
The tower of the Juche idea was unveiled on April 15, 1982, on the occasion of the 70th birthday of the North Korean leader Kim Il-sung. The 150-meter tall tower is tipped with a torch made of “rare materials”. The body of the tower is faced with 70 granite slabs, one for each year of Kim Il-sung’s life up to that time. The tower represents the idea of Juche (roughly, “self reliance”) in that its architectural form is derived from obelisk-type stone pagodas built in premodern Korea.
This gives a rough idea on when it was made, but I cannot seem to find any information regarding the Tower when it was unveiled. However, there are accounts and some older articles describing the Tower. One travel account was interesting, and I am sure a lot of you folks have read it. If you have not, here is the page. Some interesting tidbits on the page:
Continue reading ‘North Korean oddities: Tower of the Juche Idea’
Sphere: Related ContentUpdate: I have noticed an influx of traffic to this posting, so I will make this a sticky until the traffic dies down. Thanks to all who have visited. I found this video on a fluke when looking for the Propaganda Time videos.
Here is the last movie made by the kidnapped couple that is very well known. If you have not seen the story, it is here.
Not many people can claim to have spent much time with the enigmatic North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il.
But South Korean film director Shin Sang-ok and his wife, Choe Eun-hui, have that dubious distinction.
They not only knew him well but spent several years living in his summerhouse. They were not his friends or house guests - they were his prisoners.
Choe Eun-hui, an actress now in her late 60s, was the first to arrive after being kidnapped in Hong Kong by Kim Jong-il’s secret agents in 1978.
I was very surprised to find this on Google Video, and I do not know the Copyright status on it. If the movie is indeed copyrighted and cannot be posted here, please let me know in the comments and I will remove it promptly. I am posting this because it is very interesting. I have never seen it before other than a few clips here and there.
In the meantime, enjoy the film.
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