When Kim Il Sung was alive, he used the palace as one of his residences. After the death of the Korean leader in 1994, his son and political successor ordered that the building be converted into a pantheon of memory. The embalmed body of Kim Il Sung was placed in an open sarcophagus. 17 years later, Kim Jong Il was buried in the same building.
For North Koreans, going to the mausoleum of Kim Il Sung is a sacred ceremony. They visit the tomb in groups - school classes, brigades and military units. At the entrance, everyone goes through a rigorous inspection, they hand over smartphones, cameras and even sunglasses. From the entrance, visitors move on a horizontal escalator down a long corridor lined with photographs of North Korean leaders.
One part of the pantheon is dedicated to Kim Il Sung, and the other to his son. The bodies are in high, empty, semi-dark marble halls trimmed with gold. Four people are allowed to the sarcophagi, accompanied by a guide. Visitors make a circle and bow. After that, they are led to the halls with awards and personal belongings of the leaders. In addition, tourists are shown cars and railway cars in which North Korean leaders moved around the country. Separately, there is the Hall of Tears, where the farewell ceremony took place.
In front of the squat gray building of the mausoleum of Kim Il Sung there is a spacious square with flower beds and a park. Here, everyone can take a memorable photo against the backdrop of the pantheon. For this, special steps are installed on the square, a photographer works.
Visiting the mausoleum by foreign tourists
Foreigners are allowed to enter the Kim Il Sung Mausoleum only during an organized tourist trip, twice a week - on Thursday and Sunday. Visitors are asked to take care of the ceremonial dim clothes. It is forbidden to talk loudly inside the building, and it is forbidden to take photos not only inside the pantheon, but also on the square near it.
How to get there
The Mausoleum of Kim Il Sung is located in the northeastern part of Pyongyang, next to the Gwangmen metro station. Travelers come here on sightseeing buses accompanied by a North Korean guide.
Kim Il Sung is the permanent leader of North Korea, the developer of Korean Marxism. He ruled the Land of Morning Calm for 50 years. Some consider him an outstanding politician, a master of political intrigue. Others rank among the most brutal dictators of the 20th century. The life of this unique person, who has gone from a simple boy from a poor Korean village to the “eternal president”, is full of mysterious events.
The biography of Kim Il Sung is full of fiction, and it is sometimes difficult to separate the truth from a beautiful fairy tale. Few people know that for 50 years this man ruled under a false name, and his real name is Kim Song-ju.
The Eternal President of Korea was born on April 15, 1912 in the village of Namni in the family of a rural teacher and herbalist. At the age of 20, Kim Song-ju became the commander of an anti-Japanese detachment in China. He quickly advances in the service and that's when he takes on a pseudonym - Kim Il Sung, which means "rising sun". There is no doubt that Kim was a successful guerrilla commander who successfully fought under the hellish conditions of the Japanese occupation.
As for the personal life of the future leader, then riddles begin. According to one version, his first wife fought with him in the detachment, then in 1940 she was captured by the Japanese and executed. According to another, official version, his first wife since 1940 was the daughter of a farmhand, Kim Jong Suk. It turns out that when his first lover was executed, he immediately married another? In 1942, their first son appeared, according to the official version, he was born on the sacred mountain Paektusan.
In 1991, in the Alma-Ata newspaper in Korean appeared " Open letter President Kim Il Sung." The author, Yu Sen-Cher, former Chief of Operations of the Korean People's Army, claimed that Kim Il Sung shamefully fled under the blows of the Japanese army into Soviet territory and miraculously managed to escape from the Japanese. And it was in the Soviet Primorye that his son was born. “You can't forget all this. But remembering all this is a shame ... ".
It is also unclear how Kim Il Sung came to power in North Korea. After all, he belonged to the Korean lower classes, did not have higher education, and received all the basic ideas about social and economic life at political classes in partisan detachments. In addition, in 1945, when he returned to North Korea, many believed that the guerrilla commander had been replaced, as everyone was amazed at his too youthful appearance. This assertion even made its way into American intelligence reports. The Soviet military authorities even organized a demonstration trip of Kim Il Sung to his native village along with correspondents.
Replaced or real, but having seized power, Kim Il Sung became the permanent leader of this long-suffering country for many years and brought the principles of socialism in the territory entrusted to him to the point of absurdity. The economy has become fully planned, everywhere - the distribution system. Probably, this was not even in our country in the most frenzied socialist times. For example, household plots and market trade were declared a bourgeois-feudal relic and liquidated. Strictly defined portions of rice, flour, and sugar were given to each family.
The Koreans copied the personality cult of Stalin, but even in this they surpassed their northern brother, the USSR. It all started with the renaming of Pyongyang University in honor of the beloved leader. Further more. Monuments were erected to Kim Il Sung, his biography was studied, colorful glossy magazines were published with numerous portraits of the leader. In a poor country, magnificent festivities were held in honor of the beloved president, on which portraits of the country's leader were hung next to the portraits of Marx, Lenin, Stalin.
After the 1960s The personality cult of the Korean leader began to take on unprecedented forms, and was especially evident on the day of his 60th birthday. The country even adopted a new constitution, in which Comrade Kim Il Sung is described as a genius of ideas, an all-conquering steel commander, and a great revolutionary. Every book in Korea was required to contain quotes from the speeches of the leader, criticism was considered a state crime and led to jail.
The stability of North Korean society was ensured only by strict control and mass indoctrination. In terms of the scope of repressive organs, North Korea has surpassed all the states of the world. The population of the country was divided into several dozen families who lived in one quarter or house and were bound by mutual responsibility with the unlimited power of the head of the group. Without the consent of the headman, a simple Korean could not invite guests to his place, spend the night outside the house.
There were more than 120,000 political prisoners in the country alone. In the late 1950s, public executions were practiced in stadiums.
However, the leader himself and his son did not deny themselves anything. They had a special group of female servants under the meaningful name "Joy", in which only young, beautiful women are selected. unmarried women with a good background. A special requirement was also the presence of virginity. To make Kim's joy eternal, the Institute of Longevity, located in Pyongyang, was engaged in maintaining health. In order to rejuvenate Kim Il Sung's body and enhance his male function, doctors used a human placenta. Especially for the leader, virgins of 14–15 years old were impregnated, then provoking premature birth. The Institute managed the procurement of high quality products abroad.
Despite national concern for his health, at the age of 82, Kim Il Sung died of a heart attack. His death was mourned by the whole nation. The great Kim was buried in the mausoleum, declaring a three-year mourning in the country. For 5 months, more than 23 million people climbed the hill where he was buried. By a decree dated July 8, 1997, a calendar was adopted in the country with the chronology from the birth of Kim Il Sung, and the date of his birth became the "Day of the Sun." Amendments to the constitution were adopted: the post of president was abolished, since Kim Il Sung became the Eternal President of the DPRK.
His son, Kim Jong Il, continued his father's work, actually receiving the throne after his death. He became the "guarantee of the unification of the Motherland", the "fate of the nation", the "bright star of Paektusan" and, like Stalin, the "father of the people." Although Kim Jong Il himself was not particularly musical, special composers wrote six operas for him, and he was declared a great composer. He was also praised as a great architect.
Kim Jong Il surpassed his father in terms of repression. Under his rule, labor concentration camps were created, public executions were carried out, and women were forced to have abortions. Western states have repeatedly accused North Korea of violating human rights and found it labor system signs of slavery. The socialist planned economy failed miserably, the impoverished country looked pathetic against the backdrop of the rapid development of capitalist North Korea.
Brigades of North Koreans were sent to different countries, including Russia, Kazakhstan, who worked from morning to night for the good of their homeland. Of course, access to information has opened the eyes of many Koreans to the true state of affairs. From the country, the labor camps, cases of desertion became more frequent, but the retribution in cases of capture was terrible. At the first attempt to escape - imprisonment in a labor camp, for the second - the death penalty.
The "Sun of the Nation" died on board his own armored train, but no one knew about it for 2 days. It was announced - "from mental and physical overwork caused by continuous inspection trips around the country in the interests of building a prosperous state." They say that on the day of his death, even the bears woke up from hibernation to mourn the great loss, and flocks of magpies began to circle over the spire of the mausoleum of Kim Il Sung to inform the father of the death of his son. Three months of mourning followed. Those who didn't mourn this grief enough faced labor camps. It was strictly forbidden at that time to use mobile communications.
Currently, the third son of Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un (Kim III), has become the new head of state. He is also a "new star", a "brilliant comrade" and "a genius among military strategy geniuses". He also has a nuclear button.
Kim Il Sung is the founder of the North Korean state, the Eternal President of the DPRK, Generalissimo. During his life and after death, he is the owner of the title "Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung." Now North Korea is ruled by the grandson of the first president of the country, although in fact Kim Il Sung remains the leader (in 1994, it was decided to leave the post to the leader of Korea forever).
Around Kim Il Sung and the subsequent leaders of Korea, a cult of personality was restored, similar to the cult in the USSR. The cult of personality has made Kim Il Sung a demigod in North Korea, and the country itself one of the most closed off in the world.
Childhood and youth
The biography of Kim Il Sung consists of many legends and myths. It is difficult to single out what events actually took place at the beginning of the life of the future Great Leader of the Korean people. It is known that Kim Song-ju was born on April 15, 1912 in the village of Namni, Kopyeong Volost, Taedong County (now Mangyongdae), not far from Pyongyang. Kim Song-ju's father is Kim Hyun-jik, a village teacher. Mom Kang Bang Sok, according to some reports, is the daughter of a Protestant priest. The family lived in poverty. Some sources claim that Kim Hyun-jik and Kang Bang-seok were part of the resistance movement in Japanese-occupied Korea.
In 1920, Kim Song-ju's family moved to China. The boy went to a Chinese school. In 1926, his father, Kim Hyun-jik, died. After moving into high school, Kim Sung-joo joined an underground Marxist circle. After the disclosure of the organization in 1929, he went to jail. He spent six months in prison. After being released from prison, Kim Sung-joo became a member of the anti-Japanese resistance in China. At the age of 20, in 1932, he led a partisan anti-Japanese detachment. Then he took the pseudonym Kim Il Sung (Rising Sun).
Politics and military career
Military career quickly went up the hill. In 1934, Kim Il Sung commanded a platoon of the partisan army. In 1936, he became the commander of a partisan formation called "Kim Il Sung's division." On June 4, 1937, he led the attack on the Korean city of Pocheonbo. During the attack, a gendarmerie post and some administrative posts of the Japanese were destroyed. The successful attack characterized Kim Il Sung as a successful military leader.
In the period 1940-1945, the future North Korean leader commanded the 2nd direction of the 1st United People's Army. In 1940, Japanese troops managed to suppress the activities of most partisan detachments in Manchuria. Comintern (an organization that unites the communist parties different countries) suggested that Korean and Chinese partisan detachments move to the USSR. Kim Il Sung's partisans were based near Ussuriysk. In the spring of 1941, Kim Il Sung crossed the Chinese border with a small detachment and carried out a series of anti-Japanese operations.
In the summer of 1942, Kim Il Sung was accepted into the ranks of the Red Army (Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army) under the name "Comrade Ching Zhi-cheng" and was appointed commander of the 1st Rifle Battalion of the 88th Separate Rifle Brigade. The brigade consisted of Korean and Chinese fighters. The 1st Battalion consisted mainly of Korean guerrillas. Kim Il Sung, together with the commander of the 88th brigade, Zhou Baozhong, met with the commander of the Soviet troops in the Far East, Iosif Opanasenko.
As a result of the meeting, a decision was made to create the United International Forces. The association was strictly classified, Kim Il Sung's base near Ussuriysk was transferred near Khabarovsk, to the village of Vyatskoye. Many of Kim Il Sung's future comrades-in-arms in the party lived in the military dormitory of the village. The 88th brigade was preparing for sabotage partisan activities in Japan. After the surrender of Japan, the brigade was disbanded. Kim Il Sung, along with other Korean commanders, was sent to help the Soviet commandants in Korean and Chinese cities. The future Korean leader was appointed assistant to the commandant of Pyongyang.
On October 14, 1945, Kim Il Sung delivered a congratulatory speech in honor of the Red Army at a rally at the Pyongyang stadium. Captain of the Red Army Kim Il Sung was presented by the commander of the 25th Army, Colonel General Ivan Mikhailovich Chistyakov as a "national hero". The people learned the name of the new hero. The impetuous path of Kim Il Sung to power began. In December 1946, Kim Il Sung became chairman of the organizing bureau of the Communist Party of North Korea. A year later, he headed the Provisional People's Committee. In 1948, Kim Il Sung was elected Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the DPRK.
By the decision of the Potsdam Conference in 1945, Korea was divided into two parts along the 38th parallel. The northern part was under the influence of the USSR, and the southern part was occupied by American troops. In 1948, Syngman Lee became the president of South Korea. North and South Korea made claims that their political system was the only correct one. War was brewing on the Korean Peninsula. The final decision to start hostilities, according to historians, was made during the visit of Kim Il Sung to Moscow in 1950.
The war between North and South Korea began on June 25, 1950 with a surprise attack by Pyongyang. Kim Il Sung took over as commander-in-chief. The war lasted with alternating success of the opposing sides until July 27, 1953, when a ceasefire agreement was signed. Pyongyang remained under the influence of the USSR, and Seoul - the United States. A peace treaty between North and South Korea has not been signed to this day. The war on the Korean peninsula was the first military conflict cold war. In the future, all local conflicts with the behind-the-scenes presence of world superpowers were built according to its model.
After 1953, the DPRK economy, supported by Moscow and Beijing, began a rapid rise. From the beginning of the Sino-Soviet conflict, Kim Il Sung had to show diplomatic qualities, having learned to maneuver between China and the USSR. The leader tried to maintain a policy of neutrality with the conflicting parties, leaving economic assistance to the DPRK at the same level. The industry is dominated by the Tzan system, which presupposes the absence of cost accounting and material dependence.
Planning of the country's economy is carried out from the center. Private management is outlawed and destroyed. The work of the country is subordinated to the needs of the military-industrial complex. The number of the Korean People's Army reached 1 million people. By the beginning of the 70s, the DPRK economy entered a period of stagnation, the standard of living of citizens worsened. To maintain stability in the country, the authorities focused on strengthening the indoctrination of the population and total control.
In 1972, the post of prime minister was eliminated. For Kim Il Sung, the post of President of the DPRK was established. The personality cult of Kim Il Sung began to develop in 1946, when photographs of the leader were hung next to portraits of Joseph Stalin and in places where rallies and meetings were held.
The first monument to the North Korean leader was erected during his lifetime, in 1949. Worship of the “Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung” reached a wide scope in the 60s and continues to this day. The leader of the DPRK during his lifetime received the titles of "Iron All-Conquering Commander", "Marshal of the Mighty Republic", "Pledge of the Liberation of Mankind", etc. Korean social scientists created new science"the study of revolutionary leaders", which studies the role of the leader in world history.
Personal life
In 1935, in Manchuria, the future Great Leader met the daughter of a poor peasant from North Korea, Kim Jong Suk. From April 25, 1937, Kim Jong Suk served in the Korean People's Army under the leadership of Kim Il Sung. The wedding of Korean communists took place in 1940. In the village of Vyatskoye near Khabarovsk, a son was born -. According to some reports, the boy's name at the beginning of his life was Yuri.
Kim Jong Suk died in childbirth on September 22, 1949 at the age of 31. Kim Il Sung kept the memory of Kim Jong Suk forever. In 1972, the woman was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Korea.
Secretary Kim Song E became the second wife of the Korean leader in 1952. Children of Kim Il Sung: sons of Kim Jong Il, Kim Pyong Il, Kim Man Il and Kim Yong Il, daughters of Kim Kyung Hee and Kim Kayong-Jin.
Death
On July 8, 1994, Kim Il Sung died of a heart attack at the age of 82. Since the mid-1980s, the leader of North Korea has been suffering from a tumor. The photo of that period clearly shows bone formations on the leader's neck. Mourning for the leader lasted in North Korea for three years. Power after the end of the mourning passed to the eldest son of Kim Il Sung - Kim Jong Il.
After the death of Kim Il Sung, the body of the leader was placed in a transparent sarcophagus and is located in the Kumsusan Memorial Palace of the Sun. The mausoleum of Kim Il Sung and the second president of Korea, Kim Jong Il, forms a single complex with the Memorial Cemetery of Revolutionaries. The body of Kim Il Sung's mother and his first wife rests in the cemetery. The memorial is visited by thousands of citizens of Korea and other countries. In the halls of Kumsusan, visitors can see the things of the leader, his car and the luxurious wagon in which Kim Il Sung traveled.
Memory
The memory of Kim Il Sung is immortalized in North Korea by the names of streets, the university and the central square in Pyongyang. Koreans celebrate Sun Day every year. dedicated to the day Birth of Kim Il Sung. Order of Kim Il Sung main award in the country. In 1978, banknotes with the image of Kim Il Sung were issued. The release continued until 2002.
On the occasion of the leader's 70th birthday, the second tallest structure was opened in Pyongyang - a monumental granite stele 170 meters high. The monument is named "Monument of the Juche Idea". Juche is a North Korean national communist idea (Marxism adapted for the Korean population).
Every place in North Korea that Kim Il Sung has ever visited has been marked with a plaque and declared a national treasure. The leader's works are repeatedly reprinted and studied in schools and universities. educational institutions. Quotations from the works of Kim Il Sung are learned by heart by labor collectives at meetings.
Awards
- Hero of the DPRK (three times)
- Hero of Labor of the DPRK
- Order of the Red Banner (DPRK)
- Order of the Gold Star (DPRK)
- Order of Karl Marx
- The order of Lenin
- Order "Victory of Socialism"
- Order of Klement Gottwald
- Order of the State Flag, 1st class
- Order of Freedom and Independence, 1st class
Kim Song-ju was born on April 15, 1912 in the village of Namni. In 1920, he and his family live in China, where he joins a secret Marxist circle.
In the late 1930s, he commanded a partisan detachment in Manchuria, which was soon defeated, and Kim Il Sung himself fled to the USSR, where he was recruited into the Soviet army.
In 1942, he was awarded the rank of captain of the Red Army, and he led the battalion of the 88th Khabarovsk Rifle Brigade. Then he marries, and in 1942 his son Yuri is born.
In 1948, with the active support of the Soviet Union, he became the Prime Minister of the established DPRK and the head of the Communist Workers' Party of Korea, in 1953 he was declared Marshal and Hero of the Korean State.
Since 1972 he has been the President of North Korea. Since the late 1950s, all leading positions in the country have been in the hands of Kim Il Sung's associates in the guerrilla struggle. Relying on the economic assistance of the USSR and China, Kim Il Sung carried out a number of measures in the 1950s, thanks to which the country's economy developed rapidly and successfully.
At the turn of the 1950s and 60s, considerable ideological changes took place in the life of North Korea - the government of Kim Il Sung began propaganda of the Juche ideas, emphasizing the superiority of everything Korean over everything foreign. A system is being established in industry that completely denies any forms of cost accounting and material interest. Household plots and market trade are declared to be a bourgeois-feudal relic and liquidated. The economy is militarized, central planning becomes all-pervading.
The foreign policy of the leader was primarily aimed at capturing South Korea, so large funds were required to maintain a huge army, and almost the entire country worked for it. Since Kim's actions have been criticized Soviet Union, the DPRK reduced contacts with the USSR and switched to a policy of "self-reliance". All this led to the deterioration of the economic situation in the country, and the people - to a state of poverty. Despite this, North Korean propaganda continued to assert that the North Koreans live better than anyone else in the world, and so that their faith in this would not be shaken, Kim almost completely isolated the country from the outside world, and the stability of society was ensured by tight control over the population, combined with massive indoctrination. .
In terms of the scope of the activities of the repressive organs and the massiveness of the ideological influence, the regime of Kim Il Sung was perhaps comparable to the regime of Stalin in the USSR. In addition, he constantly pursued a policy of self-praise in the country. Kim Il Sung's official title, both during his lifetime and after his death: "Great Leader, Marshal, Comrade Kim Il Sung."
He was awarded the Orders of Lenin, Karl Marx, the Order of the Victory of Socialism, "For Contribution to the Victory" and other awards.
On July 8, 1994, Kim Il Sung died in Pyongyang, the capital of the DPRK. On September 5, 1998, the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK declared him the Eternal President.
The body of the leader is now in the Kymsuan mausoleum, where he rests in a special sarcophagus.
In the 1920s lived in China, where he was educated in a Chinese school. Joined a Chinese partisan detachment, quickly rose to the top and became a commander. In Korea, he became famous after his detachment attacked a small Japanese garrison on the border between China and Korea. Soon the partisans were defeated, and Kim Il Sung with the remnants of his detachment broke through to the border with the USSR. In the Soviet Union, he was accepted into the service of the Soviet army, received the rank of captain. For propaganda purposes, a company was formed from the Koreans, which he headed.
He led the life of an ordinary officer, married, in 1942 his son Yuri was born, who later became a comrade of KIM Chen Il. After the occupation of North Korea by the Soviet Union in 1945, the Soviet leadership decided to make Kim Il Sung the leader of the local communists. Kim was considered "one of his own", in contrast to the Korean underground, whom Stalin did not trust. So Captain Kim became the party leader, despite the low authority of the new officer among the Korean communists.
In 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was proclaimed on the territory of North Korea occupied by the Soviet army, with power in the hands of the Communist Workers' Party of Korea, headed by Kim Il Sung. He was hailed as "the leader of the Korean people".
A large number of Soviet and Chinese specialists (Korean by nationality) were sent to Korea, who, having become citizens of the DPRK, helped in the construction of industry and the creation of an army. Kim planned to unite the two Koreas by military means, but his invasion of the South was stopped by the Americans. Kim's army was defeated, and the DPRK survived only thanks to the help of the USSR and China. After the Korean War, Kim Il Sung gradually freed himself from the tutelage of his allies. Under the pretext of fighting American agents, Kim Il Sung destroyed the old leaders of the communist movement in Korea who could challenge his primacy. In the late 1950s he expelled or executed most of the Koreans of Soviet and Chinese origin. By the beginning of the 1960s. all those who were not ready to deify the "leader" were destroyed.
Kim Il Sung took up residence in a luxurious palace in Pyongyang. Monuments to him were erected throughout North Korea. He regularly traveled around the country, personally pointing out how peasants, milkmaids, and midwives should work. This was called "local leadership". The lives of millions of Koreans depended on Kim's slightest whims. When in the 1980s Kim first appeared in a jacket, this led to a general change in fashion among party workers (ordinary residents of the country did not have money for jackets).
The power was in the hands of party apparatchiks from the peasantry, who owed their appointment personally to the leader. Kim's foreign policy goal was to take over South Korea. Until 1968, he tried to launch a guerrilla war in the south along the Vietnamese model, but, having failed, he switched to organizing terrorist actions against South Korea. To fight the South, the DPRK maintained a huge army, for which the entire population of the country worked. Since Kim's actions were criticized by the Soviet Union, the DPRK reduced contacts with the USSR and switched to a "self-reliance" policy. But with an extremely backward economy, the North Korean people have constantly been and are on the verge of starvation. Despite this, North Korean propaganda continued to claim that North Koreans were the best off in the world. To ensure his subjects' faith in this, Kim isolated the country almost completely from the outside world. Under Kim Il Sung, the life of an ordinary North Korean was under the constant control of the party organization and the security service. In order to leave their permanent place of residence even for a short time, it was necessary to get a special business trip. Every North Korean received strict food rations. Officials have always had the opportunity to buy scarce products in special stores.
