Introduction to today's journey
Today's journey takes us to Kim Il-Sung Square, where we walk through before going to the nearby People's Study House. From there we head to the War Museum before heading 110 metres underground to ride the world's deepest metro system. We return to the surface heading to a communist monument before heading into an art gallery. We return to Yanggakdo Island to partake in a movie festival, watching a movie with its producer.
Today's Journey
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Heading back to Kim Il Sung Square in the morning. It is very quiet here today, but this square is famous for its military marches. It was opened in 1954 not long after the end of the Korean war during which all but one building in Pyongyang was destroyed. |
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The big building at the back of the square is the People's Study House, where people have access to books and computers (though very limited). Here a librarian is showing us a few Western books. |
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Looking back across Kim Il Sung Square towards the Juche Tower. The building to the left of the square is the headquarters of the Workers Party of Korea, and the building directly below has the balcony where Kim Jong Un and the other top leaders watch the military parades from. |
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The Monument to the Victorious Fatherland statue in front of the impressive Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum which we couldn't take our cameras into. The war exhibits were very impressive though. |
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Outside the museum are numerous vehicles captured from the USA during the Korean War. This includes the USS Piablo, the only captured American warship. This ship was captured after a spying exercise, and has been held here on the Potong River (flows into the Taedong River). Inside are more exhibits, including a signed apology from the United States. |
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From the museum, we head 120 metres underground into the world's deepest metro system. Here we enter Puhung Station, built by the Soviets in the 1970s. The metro system doubles as an impressive bomb shelter should Pyongyang be attacked again. |
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Golden statue of Kim Il Sung at Kaeson Station. We visit all but one of the stations on the Pyongyang Metro system - apparently the first westerners to be allowed to visit all the stations. |
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We stop at Kaeson Station and take the long escalator back to the surface at the Arch of Triumph built in 1982. It is very similar to the arch in Paris. |
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We head across the river to the Worker's Party Foundation Monument, with the three symbols of the hammer (workers), sickle (farmers) and calligraphy brush (intellectuals) standing 50 metres tall above the rust red apartment buildings. From here we visit an impressive art exhibition. It is built of granite and the bronze writing is "Long live the leader and organiser of the victories of the people of Korea, the Worker's Party of Korea! The writing on the rust coloured buildings are the words "Ever victorious". |
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We return to the Yangaccto International Hotel and into the nearby Pyongyang International Cinema Hall to watch a Korean movie as part of the Pyongyang Film Festival. Here we are interviewing the film's producer. Kim Jong Il was a very keen movie fan and would be "assistant" director in many of the movies made. |
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