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History and Historiography in North
Korea (1)
(1998 - April 2000)
Brisk Restoration and Preservation of Cultural Relics in
Korea
Pyongyang, April 27 (KCNA) -- April is a "month of
protection of cultural relics" every year in Korea. This month working people in different parts of the country
are actively pushing ahead with the work to restore and reconstruct or preserve
cultural relics in their original state. According to information available at the bureau for
management and preservation of cultural relics under the Ministry of Culture,
many buildings, hanging boards, monuments, tombstones, forts and graves at
historical sites such as Ulmil pavilion and Chilsong gate in Pyongyang, Paeksang
pavilion in Anju, Onmu pavilion in Nyongbyon and walled town of Jongju were
painted, repaired and renovated in a way best suited to seasonal features.
In South Hwanghae Province, the restoration of Samsong temple
on Mt. Kuwol is nearing completion. Samsong temple is an ancient temple where people held
memorial services for the three saints, that is Tangun and his grandfather and
father. The temple consists of 6 buildings. They boast of peculiar Korean national architecture. Restoration is also under way on the principle of historicism
at Ryongthong temple in Kaesong. This temple is directly associated with renowned Korean
Buddhist Uichon (1055-1101).
The temple is divided into a main temple, graves in the
northeastern portion and the northwestern building area. Scores of buildings are
now under construction there in ancient temple style architecture. A lot of historical relics such as King Tangun's mausoleum,
King Tongmyong's mausoleum, King Wang Kon's mausoleum, Pohyon Temple on Mt.
Myohyang, Kwangbop Temple on Mt. Taesong, Songbul temple on Mt. Jongbang,
Inphung pavilion in Kanggye and Thonggun pavilion of Uiju took on their original
appearance thanks to the policy of the Worker's Party of Korea on preserving
national cultural heritages. The Korean Central History Museum, history museums in all
provinces of the country and the Korean Folklore Museum, etc. were built
splendidly to convey the resourcefulness and patriotic soul of the nation to
generations to come.
Pyongyang, April 25 (KCNA) -- The Worker's Party of Korea accomplished the
historic cause of army building by re-organizing the Korean People's
Revolutionary Army (KPRA) which was founded on April 25, 1932 into regular
revolutionary armed forces, while leading the building of a new society after
liberation. The President Kim Il Sung laid down the principle of building a
regular revolutionary army with sons and daughters of workers and peasants and
other working people, anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters being its backbone,
in his speech made before military and political cadres on august 20, Juche 34
(1945).
Wreaths Laid Before Statue and Grave of Kang Pan Sok
Pyongyang, April 21 (KCNA) -- Senior party and state officials, working
people and servicemen visited the statue of Kang Pan Sok at the Chilgol
Revolutionary Site and her grave in Mangyongdae this morning to lay wreaths
before them on the occasion of the 108th anniversary of her birth. Kang Pan Sok
was an indomitable revolutionary fighter and an outstanding leader of the Korean
communist women's movement. Seen at the statue and grave were wreaths from
General Secretary Kim Jong Il. Yang Hyong Sop and Choe Yong Rim were among those
present at the wreath-laying ceremonies. Laid amid the playing of music were
wreaths in the name of the WPK Central Committee, the presidium of the DPRK
Supreme People's Assembly and the DPRK cabinet, commissions and ministries of
the cabinet, national institutions, working people's organizations, KPA units
and party and power bodies, farms and schools in Pyongyang.
Pyongyang, April 21 (KCNA) -- The Worker's Party of Korea (WPK) staged
vigorous mass movements in the early period of the building of a new society.
Right after the country's liberation a lot of Korean people were not freed from
the outdated ideological survivals and custom left over from the colonial
society of the Japanese imperialists. Some officials did not believe in the
people's strength as they indulged in bureaucracy and were affected by
flunkeyism. All this adversely affected the building of a new society. As a result, at least 18,700 peasants participated in the patriotic
rice-donating movement in the agricultural field only at the end of December
Juche 35 (1946).
Pyongyang, April 14 (KCNA) -- A work for the nationalization of major industries was energetically pushed ahead with in Korea
after the liberation of the country in August Juche 34 (1945). The building of new democratic Korea could be sped up and an
independent development of the national economy ensured only when the working
class of Korea owned the key economic branches which had been held by the
Japanese imperialists. The Worker's Party of Korea defined in a unique manner
objects, principle and method of the nationalization in conformity with the
specific conditions at that time. The principle was to confiscate without compensation all
factories, mines, railways, communications, banks, trade and cultural
establishments, etc., which had been in the hands of the Japanese imperialists
and comprador capitalists.
Pyongyang Boasts its Ancient History
Pyongyang, April 12 (KCNA) -- Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea, has an ancient history and civilization. It existed
as a capital of 3 dynasties of Kojoson (ancient Korea) for nearly 3000 years
from the time when Tangun set up the first ancient state, Kojoson, and chose
Pyongyang as its capital more than 5000 years back to the early 30th century
B.C. to 108 B.C. After the fall of Kojoson, the city became the capital of
Rakrang State set up by the people of fallen Kojoson. It was a political,
economic and cultural hub in the north-western part of Korea. The position and
role of Pyongyang were carried forward by Koguryo, a powerful state that existed
for 1000 years after the collapse of Kojoson. Koguryo shifted its capital to
Pyongyang in 427 as the nation's ancient history and culture originated from
this city. Koryo, which emerged as the first unified state on the Korean
peninsula with an idea of rebuilding great Koguryo, pressed ahead with the
building of Pyongyang from the very day of its foundation. The rehabilitation of
Pyongyang was the first job done by Wang Kon, the first king of Koryo, right
after his foundation of the state in 918.
All these facts are clear evidence that Pyongyang was the cradle of the
Korean nation and the capital city of Tangun's Korea. There are in Pyongyang
King Tangun's mausoleum, father of Koguryo King Tongmyong's mausoleum, the Mt.
Taesong castle and the walled city of Pyongyang and many other historical relics
which bear witness to its 5000-year long history. Today Pyongyang is known as
the capital of Juche Korea and a time-honoured sacred place.
Foreigners visit Paeksong Revolutionary Site
Pyongyang, April 11 (KCNA) -- Officials in charge of cultural and friendly
relations of foreign embassies here visited the Paeksong Revolutionary Site on
Monday on the occasion of Sun's Day, the birth anniversary of the President Kim
Il Sung. The site is situated in Phyongsong, South Phyongan Province. It is
where Kim Il Sung University was located during the Fatherland Liberation War.
In April, Juche 41 (1952) President Kim Il Sung called at the university and
gave confidence in victory to its teachers and students and unfolded a grand
plan for postwar rehabilitation and construction and socialist construction. The
visitors laid bunches of flowers before the President's statue at the site and
paid their respects to him. They looked round the place where the President made
a historic speech before the teachers and students at that time, the Paeksong
Revolutionary Museum, the then main university quarters, mess hall and others.
Pyongyang, April 3 (KCNA) -- There are
many revolutionary battle sites in the area of Mt. Paektu in Korea. Over ten
secret camps have been restored to the status quo on Mt. Paektu, Saja Hill,
Mt. Kom, Mt. Kanbaek and so on. The secret camp on Mt. Paektu was a
revolutionary fortress where the main force of the Korean People's
Revolutionary Army was active in the latter half of the 1930s and the first
half of the 1940s and a guiding centre of the Korean revolution.
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- After the liberation of Korea from the Japanese
colonial rule in August Juche 34 (1945) the Worker's Party of Korea made the
agrarian reform, a top priority for the building of a new society. The WPK
worked hard for the successful agrarian reform, true to the class policy of
relying on the poor and hired peasants, isolating the rich peasants by allying
with the middle peasants and liquidating the landlords. The historic task of the
agrarian reform was carried out in a matter of some 20 days.
Pyongyang, April 5 (KCNA) -- Kojoson (ancient Korea) was
the first ancient state established by Tangun, the ancestral father of the
nation, early in the 30th century B.C. Before its foundation a tribe called
Pakdal(paedal) living in
the western part of Korea with Pyongyang as its center merged with its neighboring tribes to form a united tribe. As their community gained in its scope and property
increased, it was not possible to maintain and manage it by a political tool
based on a primitive system of democracy.
New stamps
Pyongyang, March 30 (KCNA) -- The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunictions
has recently issued three stamps (setenant) featuring Pongsan masque dance, a
Korean folk dance of antiquity. This masque dance originated in northwestern
Korea centring on Pongsan (Sariwon) towards the end of Koryo dynasty (918-1392).
It further developed to meet the Korean people's evolving aesthetic tastes
before it greeted its glory days in the late 19th century through the turn of
the 20th century. Depicted are chuibari, ryangban and malttugi masque dances.
The dance is a precious heritage of Korean folk dance.
South Korean Authorities Assailed
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- A "cenotaph" to
the GIs killed in the Korean War is expected to be erected near River Rimjin
flowing through Phaju close to Panmunjom under "full cooperation" from
the South Korean authorities. The erection of the "cenotaph" is
reportedly meant to mark 50 years since the U.S. launched a war of aggression
against the Korean people.
Rodong Sinmun today in a commentary describes this as a
burlesque to call back the departed soul of the GIs who died a dog's death in
the war of aggression. It is intended to embellish the U.S. aggressors and
incite a second war to invade the DPRK, the commentary notes, and goes on: The South Korean authorities decided to erect the
"cenotaph" to the U.S. war dead in South Korea which is dyed with the
blood of those fellow countrymen killed by them and are keen on the project at a
time when all the countrymen are shaking with burning hatred against the U.S.
imperialist ogres and their pledge to take revenge upon them. This is an
intolerable treachery. This thrice-cursed crime can be committed only by flunkeyists,
war servants and traitors without equal who are keen on currying favour with the
U.S. and Japan, their masters, even by selling off the national pride and
dignity. History and the nation will never pardon and connive at this
insult and mockery.
Military Attaches Corps Visits Revolutionary Sites
Pyongyang, March 24 (KCNA) -- The military attaches corps visited the
Hakdanggol Revolutionary Site and Sunhwa school on March 23 on the occasion of
the 83rd anniversary of the inauguration of the Korean National Association
(anti-Japanese underground revolutionary organization) by Kim Hyong Jik.
The Hakdanggol Revolutionary Site (located in the centre of Pyongyang) is a
place where Kim Hyong Jik inaugurated the Korean National Association. Members
of the military attaches corps looked round the revolutionary site, being
briefed on the dynamic struggle waged by him to achieve the independence of the
country by the Koreans themselves. They also visited Sunhwa school (Mangyongdae
district) which is associated with his patriotic educational activities. He was
the father of the President Kim Il Sung and an indomitable revolutionary fighter
and outstanding leader of the anti-Japanese national liberation movement in
Korea.
Pyongyang, March 22 (KCNA) -- Korea is well known to the world as one of the
cradles of human civilization. The Korean nation originated from the Korean
peninsula with Pyongyang as its center. This was scientifically explained and
proved by historians. But Japanese government-patronized historians distorted
the history by describing the Korean nation as a tribe of mixed blood made up of
emigrants from Siberia or southeast Asia. So, it was necessary to explicitly
clarify the origin of the Korean nation from the Juche-oriented stand...
Pyongyang, March 21 (KCNA) -- Kim Hyong Jik, an indomitable revolutionary
fighter, set forth the idea of "Jiwon" (aim high) in the early 20th
century. This is a precious spiritual heritage for the Korean people. "Jiwon"
means to have a lofty aim. Kim Hyong Jik said: If I fall in battle, my son will
continue the fight, if my son cannot accomplish the cause, my grandson must
fight until we win our nation's independence. These words carry the idea of
"Jiwon." This idea served as banner held aloft by the Korean National
Association, which was a pivotal organization of the anti-Japanese national
liberation movement from the latter half of the 1910s to the middle of the
1920s, and a guideline in leading its all activities.
Pyongyang, March 22 (KCNA) -- The DPRK Foreign Ministry issued a memorandum
yesterday documenting the truth about the U.S. troops' mass killings of innocent
Koreans during the Korean War (June 1950-July 1953).
Cultural relics under excellent protection
Pyongyang, March 21 (KCNA) -- In Korea, significant efforts are channelled
into preservation of historical heritages despite serious economic downturn. The
Pyongyang cultural heritage management company repainted the Ryongwang Pavilion
(early 16th century) and other cultural relic units last year and installed a
new hammer and support for the Pyongyang bell in February this year. The
Pyongyang bell, at Taedongmun-dong in central district, Pyongyang, was cast in
bronze in 1726 over a period of four months.It measures 3.1 metres in height and
1.6 metres in diameter and weighs 13.513 tons, and harbors a variety of patterns
and an inscription of its history.
It had been rung for emergency alarms and clocking chimes until the 1890s and
normally at 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. with its 28 ringing blows at 10 p.m. four gates
of the inner wall of Pyongyang were shut down simultaneously to bar the passage
of people and vehicles, before they were opened with the bell's 33 blows at 4
a.m. in the event of foreign invasion, it rang in ceaseless rounds. The hammer,
a recent imitation of the original, is 2.5 metres in length and 0.2 metre in
diameter, while the support is a three-piece one. The aforesaid company and
similar bodies across the country are now bracing for the upcoming "month
of cultural relics protection" in April.
Pyongyang, March 17 (KCNA) -- The DPRK has made many achievements in the
in-depth study of songs dating back to the period of enlightenment. In recent
years the central committee of the Korean Musicians Union and the national music
research room of Pyongyang University of Music and Dance have discovered and
studied hundreds of songs dating back to the period of enlightenment, including
new folk songs "Song of Yongchun" and "Korean Tharyong" and
children's song "Half Moon." Those songs appeared in the middle of the
19th century as part of a campaign for new culture. They were disseminated after
taking formal shape as a new variety of music in the 1920s-1930s.
Pyongyang, March 16 (KCNA) -- People's Artiste O Hyang Mun, 79, at the Korean
Film Studio is a broad favorite of the public with a nearly 30-year-long career
of dubbing-in recital. He is far better known by his voice than by his face.
Originally a drama actor, he earned a speedy appeal because of the distinctive
charm of his voice and intonation. Later he was taken on by the Korean Film
Studio and had since been preoccupied with dubbing imported foreign films. His
premiere cue was the dubbing-in for the leading character of the former Soviet
feature film "King Lear".
Historic Meeting on Mt. Wangjae
Pyongyang, March 10 (KCNA) -- A historic meeting of
weighty importance in the struggle to liberate the country from the Japanese
colonial rule took place on March 11, Juche 22 (1933). The President Kim Il Sung advanced into the Onsong area, the
northern border area of Korea, leading a unit of the guerrilla army, and
convened a meeting of chiefs of underground revolutionary organisations and
political workers in the Onsong area on Mt. Wangjae.
At the meeting he made a historic speech "to spread and
develop the armed struggle into the homeland." He put forward the tasks of revolutionary organisations in
the homeland to spread and develop the armed struggle into the homeland, firmly
unite the whole nation into a political force under the banner of anti-Japanese
national united front based on worker-peasant alliance and push ahead with mass
movement and preparations for party founding. His speech served as an action program and guidelines for
struggle of the Korean communists and other people in expanding and developing
the Korean revolution as a whole centering around the anti-Japanese armed
struggle.
The guerrilla base built in broad area on the River Tuman,
the northern tip of Korea, after the meeting made it possible to secure the
fountainhead of the Korean revolution, a military strategic base and supply base
of the anti-Japanese people's guerrilla army with which to develop the Korean
revolution as a whole centering around the anti-Japanese armed struggle. Preserved in the original status in the Onsong area are the
meeting place and other revolutionary sites that show the achievements made
under the leadership of the President and his exploits in the struggle. Standing
there are the grand monument to the meeting on Mt. Wangjae with the statue of
the President, the Wangjaesan revolutionary museum and the monument to
revolutionary activities on Mt. Wangjae to convey his revolutionary exploits to
posterity for all ages.
Papers Observe Anniversary of March 1st Popular Uprising
Pyongyang, March 1 (KCNA) -- Papers here today dedicate editorials to the
81st anniversary of the March 1st Popular Uprising, a resistance of all the
Korean people against the brigandish Japanese imperialists. The uprising was an
all-people resistance and a nationwide patriotic struggle against the brigandish
Japanese aggressors which was waged in every corner of the country and even
overseas where Koreans resided with the massive anti-Japanese demonstration held
in Pyongyang as a torch. Rodong Sinmun says that the March 1st Popular Uprising
showed the Korean people are the people with steadfast independence who do not
want to become slaves to others and the brave and patriotic people who wage
stubborn struggle against the aggressors without flinching from sacrifices. The
paper says that the desire of the demonstrators has been realized only in the
half of the country but the outsiders' colonial rule continues in South Korea as
yet. The paper goes on: The Korean nation should get the foreign forces
withdrawn from South Korea and accomplish the cause of the country's
reunification to realise the national sovereignty throughout the country.
Fundamental Question of Juche Philosophy
Pyongyang, February 29 (KCNA) -- A fundamental question
of philosophy means the most basic one that serves as a starting point among the
questions which the philosophy should answer to fulfil its mission. The former philosophy presented the correlation between
matter and consciousness, between being and thinking as the fundamental question
of philosophy. But the Juche philosophy raised from a new angle the
relations between the world and man, and man's position and role in the world as
the fundamental question of philosophy.
The fundamental question of the Juche philosophy indicates a
most right path of shaping man's destiny. Since man lives and develops in the world his destiny is
hewed out in the relationship with the world. Therefore, the popular masses
should dominate and transform the world to hew out their destiny and have a
correct understanding of and view on the world. For this, it is necessary to
correctly know what is the essential characteristics of man and what kind of
force dominates, transforms and develops the world. Hence, the Juche philosophy raised from a new angle the
relations between man and the world as its fundamental question alone can give a
correct answer as to who is the master of the world and what is the motive force
for transforming and reshaping it.
The human history of philosophy has thus been enriched with a
philosophy which has raised man's position and role in the world as its
fundamental question different from the former one which takes relations between
matter and consciousness as its fundamental question. The Juche philosophy's clarification of this fundamental
issue marked a miracle in the history of human thinking as it ushered in an era
guided by the man-centred philosophy.
Bust of Kim Chaek Erected
Pyongyang, February 23 (KCNA) -- A bust of a communist revolutionary fighter
Kim Chaek was erected at the Kim Chaek Air Force University. Kim Chaek
(1903-1951) was a true communist of Korea, who embarked on the revolutionary
struggle in his early days and devoted himself to the liberation of the country,
people's happiness, prosperity and development of the country and the victory of
the Juche revolutionary cause under the leadership of the President Kim Il Sung.
He participated in the anti-Japanese armed struggle organized and led by the
President and greatly contributed to the final victory of the anti-Japanese war.
After the liberation of the country he made a distinguished contribution to the
cause of the building of the party, country and army, true to the President's
intention to build a new country. During the Fatherland Liberation War he
greatly contributed to the victory of the war by acting as a front commander.
The President saw to it that a city, a university, a unit of the Korean People's
Army and military schools were named after him to shine his exploits down
through generations. An unveiling ceremony of the bust was held at the
university on Tuesday. A wreath sent by General Secretary Kim Jong Il was laid
before his bust. Wreaths were laid in the name of the Ministry of the People's
Armed Forces, the Kim Chaek Air Force University, bereaved family and others.
Minister of the People's Armed Forces Kim Il Chol made a speech.
NORTH KOREANS CELEBRATE THEIR LEADER'S BIRTHDAY
Segodnya's Natalia Roslova reported that on February 15, on the
eve of DPRK leader Kim Jong-il's 58th birthday, DPRK servicemen pledged to be
faithful to him. The event took place at one of Pyongyang's squares, where
DPRK Minister of People's Armed Forces Kim Il-cher addressed 6000 troops. There is little hope to see Kim Jong-il himself at the official events.
According to the official version, he was born in "a hidden camp" in
the mountains of Korea during the anti-Japanese resistance war, but another
version says he was born in a Siberian village in the USSR. Segodnya's
Natalia Roslova ("NORTH KOREANS CELEBRATE THEIR LEADER'S BIRTHDAY,"
Moscow, 4, 02/16/00)
Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article
rails against the Japanese reactionaries for asserting that the Japanese
imperialists' occupation of Korea was not one by military forces. Pointing out
that they cited the "treaties" and "agreements" fabricated
by the Japanese imperialists between 1905 and 1910 to support their argument,
the article dismissed this as a brazen-faced attempt to justify their military
occupation of Korea.
Pyongyang, February 18 (KCNA) -- The mass foundation for building the Worker's
Party of Korea was laid and consolidated during the anti-Japanese revolutionary
struggle (1925-1945). Korean communists worked hard to awaken the masses to
consciousness and unite them in organizations in the rigorous period of the
armed struggle, the main trend of revolution at that time.
Foreign Guests Visit Revolutionary Museum
Pyongyang, February 16 (KCNA) -- The economic and commercial counsellors'
corps here visited the revolutionary museum at Kim Il Sung University yesterday
on the occasion of the birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il. They looked
round historic materials and relics with deep attention, being briefed on the
ideological and theoretical exploits Kim Jong Il performed through his energetic
pursuit and thinking after joining the university and on the wise leadership he
provided to develop the university into one of the President Kim Il Sung.
Pyongyang, February 8 (KCNA) -- The north and the south of Korea stand in sharp
contrast in the use of language which may decide the rise or fall of a nation,
said Rodong Sinmun on Monday in a signed article. History of each nation's rise
or fall is just that of its language's rise or fall, the paper noted, stressing
that this has been proven by the history of the Korean nation and the
present-day realities of the north and the south of Korea.
Foreign Guests Visit Revolutionary Museum of Ministry of
Culture
Pyongyang, February 4 (KCNA) -- Diplomatic envoys and
embassy officials of Arab countries in Pyongyang visited the Revolutionary
Museum of the Ministry of Culture on Thursday on the occasion of the auspicious
holiday of February. The guests looked round historic relics and materials, being
briefed on the fact that the great leader Kim Jong Il set forth the unique idea
for the development of the Juche-based literature and art and has wisely led it. And they went round the mock-up location streets of the
Korean film studio.
Birthday Table Sent to Professor Pak
Si-hyong
Pyongyang, January 24 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il sent a
birthday table to academician, professor and doctor Pak Si Hyong on his 90th
birthday. It was conveyed to him on January 16, who is "Kim Il Sung
Prize" winner and labour hero. Kim Jong Il was so gracious as to send him birthday tables on his 70th and
80th birthdays, too. Pak is a researcher of the faculty of history at Kim Il
Sung University. He has devoted himself to scientific researches and the
education of the younger generation at the university and the Academy of Social
Sciences for more than 50 years. He is author of at least 30 textbooks and
reference books, including "Korean History of Ancient and Middle
Ages," "Korean History of Land System" (two volumes),
"Monument To the Mausoleum of King Kwanggaetho" and "History of
Palhae." He has trained scores of students as doctors and masters.
Pyongyang, January 22 (KCNA) -- The Korean Folklore Museum now displays a
recent collection of cultural relics from Koryo (918-1392) and the Ri dynasty
(1392-1910). The collection gives a glimpse of Korean customs and craftsmanship
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- In North Korea there are a number of anecdotes
about revolutionary activities and noble personality of the great communist
revolutionary fighter Kim Jong Suk. An anecdote "secret of
marksmanship" says that she cultivated the skill of marksmanship in the
period of the anti-Japanese armed struggle to remain intensely loyal to the
President Kim Il Sung.
Pyongyang, December 17 (KCNA) -- Today commemorates the 60th death
anniversary of O Jung Hup, a communist revolutionary fighter. O Jung Hup was a
hot-blooded loyal subject who distinguished himself in devotedly defending the
leader in the period of the arduous anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle and a
competent commanding officer of the Korean people's revolutionary army. He died
a heroic death during a battle in northeastern part of Mt. Paektu on December
17, Juche 28 (1939).
There is the world's biggest gilded bronze statue of Buddha at Todai Temple in
Nara Prefecture, Japan. "Great statue of Buddha in Nara" is 16 metres
high and 380 tons in weight and his finger is as big as the height of a man. It
took 14 years for a Korean called Kuk Ma-Ryo to make the statue after he began
working on it in 743.
Reconstruction of Ryongthong Temple
The research group including the archaeological institute of the
Academy of Social Sciences and the office for the study of the architectural
history of Pyongyang University of Construction and Building Materials finished
the design for Ryongthong Temple reconstruction on the basis of survey of the
temple site at the foot of Mt. Ogwan in Ryonghung-ri, Kaesong, and historical
data related to it.
U Chi-son - Famous Ceramic Artist
U Chi-son, who was interested in the clay
art in his early days, tried to become a ceramic craftsman by all means but
his simple hope could never be achieved during the colonial rule by the
Japanese. It was only after the liberation of the country (August, 1945) that
his hope and talents could come true. At that time, Koryo celadon was being
extirpated without technique of making it handed down. He succeeded in restoring
the secret method of making Koryo celadon with painful pursuit and efforts while
working at the Koryo ceramic institute and pottery factories.
Paleolithic Cave Unearthed
Pyongyang, November 15 (KCNA) -- A Group for the Study of the
History of Human Evolution of Kim Il Sung University recently unearthed a cave
belonging to the Paleolithic age at a quarry in Kumok-ri, Sungho district,
Pyongyang.
Meeting of scholars from North, South and overseas for reunification
A meeting of scholars from the North,
South and overseas was held in Beijing from Oct. 26 to 27. On the basis of the
Juche-oriented view on the historical background against which the problem of
the country's reunification was raised and its root cause and the core and
nature of the reunification issue, they stressed that the country must be
reunified according to the three-point charter of national reunification.
Statue of Kim Chol-ju Erected
Kim Chol Ju was born on June 12, Juche 5
(1916) in Mangyongdae. Receiving revolutionary education from his parents and
guidance from the President Kim Il Sung, he nurtured anti-Japanese patriotic
idea and high class awareness and grew up to be an indomitable communist
revolutionary fighter possessed of noble revolutionary spirit and virtue
North Korea's Educational Policy
Education in North Korean "revolutionary tradition," which in fact refers to the history of Kim Il-sung's
anti-Japanese struggles in the 1930s, began in 1961 following the decision of the 4th Workers Party Congress
in September that year.
"All North Korean History Books are Mere Tools to Promote the Personality Cult of Kim Il-sung..."
Until North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung declared the Juch'e (Self-reliance)
Idea as the guiding principle for his rule in 1955, studies of Korean history in the North had
been active in terms of new periodization and interpretation based on the orthodox Communist view.
But after Kim established his inflexible dictatorship in the late 1960s, North Korean historians had
to rewrite Korean history itself in such a way as to promote the personality cult of Kim and his
relatives.
"Kim Jong-Il's Historical Lessons"
At the seminar a student asked a question about the emergence of various factions which had existed in the Korean communist movement such as the "Shanghai group'', ''Irkutsk group'', ''Tuesday group'', "Seoul group'' and about the origin of these names. In other words, he wanted the details of the history of factions. Silence reigned in the room...
Personality Cult in North Korea
Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang
maintains 6 departments specializing in Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. They
include the Department of Kim Il-sung's Revolutionary History, the Department of
Kim Jong-il's Revolutionary History, the Department of Kim Il- sung's Works, and
the Department of Kim Jong-il's Works.
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