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Infiltrating North Korea Part 9: Worshiping at the Altar of Kim
It's impossible to visit North Korea as a tourist without being forced to personally pay respects to the Great Leader oneself.
This is always done at the capital's Mansudae Grand Monument where an enormous bronze statue of the Great Leader towers above the city. According to my copy of Pyongyang Review, the statue was built in 1972 due to the "unanimous desire and aspiration to have the immortal revolutionary exploits of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung remembered for all time and to carry forward and consummate the revolutionary cause of Juche [self-reliance] which he initiated."
The Grand Monument is one of the holiest places in Pyongyang and our guide appeared a little nervous when we piled out of the minivan. "There are a lot of people here," he told us. "Please don't do anything that would embarrass me." He also asked that we did not take any photographs of the Great Leader which would cut him in half. Only full shots were allowed in order to show the utmost respect.
Before leaving the parking lot, our guide walked us over to a small flower stand where a member of our group was asked to purchase an arrangement. After doing so, we joined a large crowd of North Koreans also bearing flowers, and walked up a slight hill towards the statue and two large monuments which stand on either side of it, one of which commemorates the anti-Japanese struggle while the other chronicles the socialist revolution and includes a large slogan that reads, "Let us drive out U.S. imperialism and reunify the country!"
Because of the mass of people paying their respects, we had to wait a moment before a member of our group was allowed to walk the remaining distance and place the flowers at the base of Kim Il Sung. When he returned, we all stood nervously in a line facing the statue. I wasn't about to bow, and I assumed that the others in my group wouldn't as well. Our guide however, had no choice. He bent low to the waist and offered up a very serious bow to the Great Leader. And then, we were free to go.
We hung out for a little while and watched as a never ending flow of North Koreans did the same as we had just done; parading up to the statue, offering flowers, and then bowing deeply to Kim Il Sung. For an atheist nation, I never would have expected such religious devotion.
Yesterday: The Cult of Kim
Tomorrow: The Followers of Kim
Filed under: Arts and Culture, North Korea, Infiltrating North Korea
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
zima3000 Dec 14th 2007 3:03PM
> For an atheist nation, I never would have expected such religious devotion.
Nature hates a vacuum. When you take away the traditional gods, people use the next best thing available. And if this love is mandatory - even more so.
Although I'd guess there is a number of people in this procession who don't really feel a thing - they just do it because 1) not to do it is dangerous or 2) everyone else is doing it. It looks like there were mostly organized groups there? Students on a field trip, soldiers on a field trip, etc. - they have no choice really ...
Ah, just thinking out loud :)
Panda Bear Dec 14th 2007 12:01PM
I can certainly understand your revulsion at bowing to the statue, but weren't you concerned that you were putting your guide in danger? He doesn't have the luxury of acting as freely of his own will as you do.
Neil Dec 14th 2007 3:05PM
Panda Bear, that's a great point but it was our understanding that no one really expects the foreigners to bow. In fact our guide didn't ask us to do so. He was persistant in making us buy flowers, however.
-Neil
antheny Dec 15th 2007 9:33PM
I started scoping out some of the places that you have mentioned on Google Earth. I tried to find the former hut of Kim Il Sung in Mangyongdae, but the only results I got were for the amusement park there. I was trying to see if I could see the long line of people. Failing that, I jumped over to the Monument you visited in this post. In the video there are many people and whole banks of flowers. On Google Earth, the resolution is good enough to see a smattering of people, but not the brightly colored flowers. The sat picture might be from a time of year without flowers or some other explanation, but barring that, the lack of flowers and crowds might back up your idea that the entire thing was a big show. Check if out for yourself, you might be able to find some other evidence. Great posts, I really enjoy reading them, keep it up!
Neil Dec 17th 2007 12:17AM
Antheny, Thanks for the Google earth search idea. I will be sure to check it out and perhaps even include it in a future post. But now that the North Koreans know about this, they will figure what time the Google Earth satellite flies over head and will make sure an appropriate crowd is on hand!