Pyongyang

Pyongyang, was the capital of Kojoson, the

first ancient state established 5,000 years

ago by Dan Gun, the founder of the Korean

nation

Pyongyang means peaceful city / flat city. The River Taedong, runs through it and it’s surrounded by mountains and hills including the Moran Hill, Taesong and Ryongak Mountains. I spent several days here and immediately noticed that it’s very green with many parks and trees, the streets are totally free of litter and the wide roads have very few cars.

Sungin and Sungnyong

Temples

These are two of the oldest buildings in Pyongyang and representative of Koryo Dynasty (918-1392 AD) and Ri Dynasty (1392-1910) architecture. The original Sungin was built in 1325 and renovated in 1428 (now rebuilt). Sungnyong Temple was built in 1492. There is a beautiful picture of Dan Gun, the Founder King of the Federal state. The temples are mostly off limits to tourists so I was fortunate to see them.

Kim Il Sung

Square

Pyongyang’s central square is surrounded by the government ministries of Agriculture and Foreign Trade, museums and the national library. The first parade took place on 28th July, 1953. During the 70 years that the Kim family has ruled, North Korea's 30-plus massive military parades have been used as much for propaganda, intimidation and internal unity as for commemorating important anniversaries. The dots on the roads and pavements indicate the place where people must stand. I asked who stood on the dots and how was someone allotted a space. After several rounds of questioning with no real answers I dropped the question. I suspect that it is only people who are military family members and others who work for the government.

Mansudae

Fountain

Park

The historic centre of Pyongyang is flanked by the Grand People’s Study House and the Mansudae Art Theatre. The park’s centrepiece fountain is 28 angelic-looking white statues of women performing a dance called the “Snow Falls.” One of the fountains shoots water 80 metres into the air.

Monument to the Party

Foundation

This iconic 56m high structure features a hammer, sickle and calligraphy brush which make up the emblem and insignia of the national flag of the Worker’s Party of Korea. Apparently, it took one year to build in 1995 on the 50th Anniversary of the Party foundation. The number of slabs of the belt around the monument and its diameter stand for the date of birth of Kim Jong-il. The inscription on the outer belt says "Long live the leader and organizer of the victories of the people of Korea, the Worker's Party of Korea". On the inside of the belt are three bronze reliefs with their distinct meanings: the historical root of the party, the unity of people under the party and the party's vision for a progressive future. The apartment blocks behind the structure were built to represent fluttering flags with its letters forming the words "ever-victorious".

Mangyondae

Native House

The reconstructed traditional Korean house, set in a peaceful park, is said that it was the birthplace of President Kim Il Sung, the eldest son who left his family for 20 years to fight for his country’s independence. It is considered a sacred site by North Koreans. No-one is allowed inside of the huts, but you’re able to take a peek inside as you walk past. Whilst I was there, the long queue took about 20 minutes to reach the house and about 2 minutes to view it. There were groups from schoolchildren through to the military. Fortunately, my guides skipped me passed the queues and gave me a frontline view of the inside of the house. If this was his birthplace, for someone that rose to such power, then he came from a simple straw hut. The 4 generations of his family before him that inherited the hut worked as care-takers for the nobles that owned the land the huts now sit on. On display are tools and artefacts of their past - a defective but functional pot that was bought by his grandmother at a discount and, apparently, the same straw mat that Kim Il Sung slept on when he returned from his rebel struggles in Manchuria. Inside one of the living rooms, you can see portraits of Kim Il Sung’s extended family, including his cousin, brother, and father, who all fell in the revolutionary struggle.

Pyongyang Botanical

Gardens

The Central Botanical Garden was built the foot of Mt. Taesong in Pyongyang in 1959. Its 250 hectares (I was told that it was 570 hectares) is split into 14 areas with an estimated that about 6,500 plant species, of which 2,500 species are native. The trees and shrubs weren’t as mature as I would expect for the age of the gardens but maybe the weather is not ideal for faster growth. The pond in the centre of the main garden area was dried up. The orchids were disappointing, being less than 20 in the orchid greenhouse. Whilst in one of the greenhouses, and momentarily out of sight of my guides, I was really surprised to be asked to join a wedding party for a photo. What an honour for me and maybe unique opportunity or them to have a photo with a Westerner.

Juche Tower

The tower closes at 18.30 but amazingly, my tour guide arranged for it to remain open until 18.45 for my visit. However, we were late and he called the staff who opened it to take me to the top of the tower in the elevator. Unfortunately, I only had time for a ‘whistle stop’ walk around the top, taking lots of photos so that I could absorb the views over the city later. (5 EUR / 40 RMB ticket for elevator to observation platform). This 170-metre tower is dedicated to the DPRK’s guiding philosophy, the Juche idea – that man is master of everything and owner of his destiny. It was built to commemorate Kim Il Sung's 70th birthday. The architectural style of the Tower is inspired by stone pagodas of pre-modern Korea, with a four-sided tapering 150 metre spire (the tallest in granite) containing 25,550 blocks (one for each day of Kim Il Sung's life, 365 × 70, excluding supplementary days for leap years), The torch on top of the tower is always lit. Alongside the tower is a 30-metre high statue consisting of three idealised figures each holding a tool – a hammer (the worker), a sickle (the peasant), and a writing brush (the "working intellectual") – in a classic Stalinistic-style reminiscent of the Soviet statue Worker and Kolkhoz Woman.

Monument to the Three

Charters of Reunification

The monument is 30 metres tall and 61.5 metres wide with the numerology referring to the June 15th, 2000 North-South Joint Declaration. Two identical women wearing traditional Korean dress hold a map of a united Korea. Opened in 2001 the stone archway over the highway was built to commemorate the Korean reunification proposals put forward by Kim Il Sung. These were the Three Principles of National Reunification, the Plan of Establishing the Democratic Federal Republic of Korea, and the Ten Point Programme for the Reunification of the Country (a plan written by Kim Il-sung on April 6, 1993, to re-unite North Korea and South Korea). You can see there's so few cars in the country that I can stand in the middle of a 3 line highway, a major road into Pyongyang.

Ri In Mo

Monument

The Ri In Mo Monument commemorates the life of 'long- term unconverted' political prisoner, Ri In Mo. Ri was captured in 1952 by South Korean forces during the Korean War, while serving as a war correspondent attached to the North Korean army and spent 34 years in a South Korean jail. During captivity, Ri refused to give up his loyalty to the DPRK and was eventually repatriated to the DPRK in 1993 due to health reasons. Sixty-three other long-term converted prisoners were released and allowed to return to the DPRK in 2000 following the North-South Joint Declaration. Ri passed away in 2007, aged 90 years and a bronze monument was erected in a small park on Tongil Street.

Mirae

Scientists

Street

My guides took me on an evening stroll in one of Pyongyang’s newest neighbourhoods, built for academics and scientists of the Kim Chaek University of Technology. The six lane street is lined by designer apartment blocks designed to emphasize Kim Jong Un's focus on science and technology, built around the regime's nuclear weapons development. The street is reportedly the first location where the Mirae public WiFi network was installed (N. Korea has a private intranet). In 2015 there were 2500 families here.

Arch of Triumph

The massive archway commemorates the liberation of Korea from the Japanese rule (1925 to 1945). Inaugurated on the 70th birthday of Kim Il Sung, each of its 25,500 blocks of white granite represents a day of his life up to that point. It is similar but 10m larger than its counterpart in Paris.

Mansudae Grand

Monument

These 20m high bronze statues of the DPRK eternal leadership overlook downtown Pyongyang. The statue of Kim Il Sung was built in 1972 and statue of Kim Jong Il was built in 2012. Thousands of people celebrate their weddings infront of the statues as a ritual. A bow and presentation of flowers is customary for everyone, including tourists. (I paid 5 EUR / 40RMB for a bouquet of flowers, presumably cheaper for locals). Photos must include the complete statue with no crops. The background is a painting of the sacred Mount Paektu, behind which is the Korean Revolutionary Museum. The statues either side represent: - 1905 to 1945 Japanese rule and life of the guerrillas (on the left) - 1945 - now – the liberation & Korean war.

Pyongyang Metro

Built in 4 phases between 1973 and 1987, there are 2 lines with 17 stops. The metro is the deepest in the world at 100m underground accessible by a very long escalator on which walking and sitting are banned. The stunning mosaics, murals and monuments in each of its stations are unique by reflecting the name of the station. Yet they are all ultra- nationalistic in themes showing North Korea’s history, goals and achievements to impressionable commuters. The 1st stop was Yonggwang (Glory) station which has 80m long mosaics – depicting the Taedong river, which flows through the city, on one side representing the West and the other representing the East of the city. Our 2nd stop was where the lights represent fireworks.

Victorious Fatherland

Liberation War Museum

Renovated in 2012, the museum exhibits the DPRK perspective of the Korean war. Full of propaganda the alleged American war atrocities against the Korean people are the main theme of the museum. The displays and Guides clearly demonstrate their hatred of the Americans. I found the propaganda very distasteful and asked for a quick exit. The exterior grounds house the War Victory Monument and displays of captured equipment from the US, including the ship USS Pueblo that floats on the Taedong River. A tour inside the ship is interesting, but again the propaganda is intense.

Foreign Languages

Bookshop

This is a store selling Korean publications translated into various languages. There are many ‘guidance’ books written by the Kim family. It also sells DVDs, postcards and small works of art. I would have spent more time here but I felt a bit pressured in being followed around by my guides and the store assistants. Ryugyong Hotel Often called the ‘Hotel of Doom’, the unfinished 105-story, 330-metre-tall hotel and mixed use building looms over the city skyline like a rocket about to take off. In 1987, Kim Il-sung directed the Ryugyong Hotel be built as a snub to his southern neighbours (South Korea had just announced their plans for the 1988 Olympics) and to rival that of everything that had been built before it. It is the tallest building in North Korea and is listed in the Guinness Book of records as being the tallest unoccupied building in the world. Construction began in 1987 with the backing of the Soviet Union - the original construction cost was estimated as $750 million, almost two percent of North Korea’s GDP, but was halted in 1992 as North Korea entered a period of economic crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1992 the building stood topped out, but without any windows or interior fittings. In 2008, 16 years after construction had been halted, it started again as Oriscom, an Egyptian company that had entered into a deal with North Korea to build a mobile phone network, had mysteriously agreed to complete the Ryugyong Hotel. In 2008 construction resumed and the exterior was completed in 2011. It was planned to open the hotel in 2012, the centenary of Kim Il Sung’s birth, then a partial opening was announced for 2013, but this was cancelled and the building remains unopened with the interior yet to be finished. My guides gave no view on the lavish spending on the building, although they did shrug their shoulders with winced faces.

Pyongyang Circus

An addition to my itinerary was this amazing acrobatic act, very similar to Cirque du Soleil. Apparently it has performed for 20 years. The performance is from 5 pm to 6.30 pm and cost 160 RMB

Mayday Stadium

Opened on 1st May 1989, the North Koreans say that it has a capacity of 150,000 however, records say that the real capacity is 114,000 which still ranks it as the largest stadium in the world by capacity.