Pyongyang - Hamhung

Na het ontbijt hebben we een tour door Pyongyang gemaakt. Ik heb trouwens op z'n Koreaans ontbeten, warm, met rijst en groenten. Toen ik vanuit mijn hotelkamer op de 31e verdieping nog even een panoramafoto wilde maken hoorde ik buiten de liederen alweer. Het grootste gedeelte van de citytour was met de bus, maar we hebben ook een half uurtje door de stad gelopen, uiteraard onder strenge begeleiding van de staatsgidsen. Ik moest even aan het 'regime' van de gidsen wennen. In de bus legde de staatsgidse ons een paar 'demands' uit, zoals geen mensen in het gezicht fotograferen en alleen de mooie gebouwen. Vervolgens kregen we op straat amper de tijd om foto's te maken, omdat we constant de 'opdracht' kregen om door te lopen. Ik voelde me behoorlijk opgejaagd en moe(s)t hier heel erg aan wennen. Op een paar locaties kregen we een paar minuten om rond te lopen, maar je werd nauwlettend door de gidsen in de gaten gehouden. De stad doet me erg aan het oude Oostblok/Rusland denken, de stad is verder wel erg schoon en ook hier weer erg weinig auto's. Veel Koreanen lopen, fietsen of pakken de tram, (trolley)bus of metro. Bij het Mansu Hill Grand Monument (1) op Mansudae Hill gingen we de twee standbeelden van de grote leiders (Kim Il Sung (2) en Kim Jong Il (3)) bekijken. Er werd van ons verwacht dat we onze eer betoonden in de vorm van het leggen van bloemen en daarna op linie een buiging te maken naar de twee standbeelden, aldus geschiedde. Voor mij had dit niet gehoeven, maar in veel dingen heb ik hier in Noord Korea geen keuze. Wel kregen we na het betonen van onze eer wat minuten de tijd om foto's te maken, ik kon het niet laten om een selfie met de Grote Leiders te maken. Een selfie maken was geen probleem, zolang de standbeelden maar in hun geheel op de foto stonden. Na de citytour was het tijd voor de lunch, in de vorm van een 'hotpot'. Dit is een pannetje met bouillon waarin je vlees/vis kookt met groente. Volgens de gids was dit typisch Koreaans, maar ik weet dat ze dit ook in Japan doen. Na de lunch zijn we in de bus gestapt om af te reizen naar Hamhung (4) aan de kust. Het was een lange rit over een betonplatenweg, wat totaal niet comfortabel was. De weg was slecht, waardoor er niet hard gereden kon worden en we pas rond 21u in Hamhung aankwamen. Onderweg hebben we nog twee stops gemaakt (oa bij een waterval) om de benen te strekken, helaas werkte het weer niet echt mee, het heeft de hele dag eigenlijk geregend. Het landschap is mooi om te zien, groene bergen. Het hotel in Hamhung is okay, ik heb een erg ruime kamer (hal, kantoor, badkamer, slaapkamer), maar hier lijkt het bed nog harder dan die in de trein...

1) The Grand Monument on Mansu Hill (Mansudae) is a complex of monuments in Pyongyang, North Korea. The central part of the monument are two 22 meters high statues of North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, possibly made of bronze. Behind the statues is a wall of the Korean Revolution Museum building, displaying a mosaic mural showing a scene from Mount Paektu, considered to be the sacred mountain of revolution. Next to the statues, leading away from the building, there are two monuments showing many different soldiers, workers, farmers, and so on; "Anti-Japanese Revolutionary Struggle" and "Socialist Revolution". These memorials are 22.5 meters high . and 50 meters long. The long line of human figures depicted on them are on average 5 meters high. The monument was constructed in April 1972, then displaying only Kim Il-sung. Following the death of Kim Jong-il, a similar statue of him was erected on the north side of Kim Il-sung. At the same time, Kim Il-sung's statue was changed quite a bit. A new set of clothes was added and his facial expression modified somewhat.

2) Kim Il-sung (born Kim Sŏng-ju; 15 April 1912-8 July 1994) was the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly referred to as North Korea, from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death. He was also the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea from 1949 to 1994 (titled as chairman from 1949 to 1966 and as general secretary after 1966). He authorized the invasion of South Korea in 1950, triggering a police action by the United Nations led by the United States. A cease-fire in the Korean War was signed on 27 July 1953. His tenure as leader of North Korea was autocratic, and he established an all-pervasive cult of personality around himself. From the mid-1960s, he promoted his Juche ideology, which gradually replaced Marxism-Leninism as the ideology of the state. His son Kim Jong-il became his formal successor at the 6th WPK Congress, and succeeded him in 1994. The North Korean government refers to Kim Il-sung as "The Great Leader" and he is designated in the North Korean constitution as the country's "Eternal President". His birthday is a public holiday in North Korea and is called the "Day of the Sun". Many of the early records of his life come from his own personal accounts and official North Korean government publications, which often conflict with external sources. Nevertheless, there is some consensus on at least the basic story of his early life, corroborated by witnesses from the period. Kim is reported by some to have been born in the small village of Mangyungbong (then called Namni) on 15 April 1912. Mangyungbong sits on a peak in the Rangrim Range of mountains near Pyongyang, Korea. Born to Kim Hyŏng-jik and Kang Pan-sŏk, who gave him the name Kim Sŏng-ju; Kim also had two younger brothers, Ch’ŏl-chu (or Kim Chul Joo) and Yŏng-ju. The exact history of Kim's family is somewhat obscure. According to Kim himself the family was neither very poor nor comfortably well-off, but was always a step away from poverty. Kim is said to have claimed that he was raised in a Presbyterian family, that his maternal grandfather was a Protestant minister, that his father had gone to a missionary school and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and that his parents were very active in the religious community. According to the official version, Kim’s family participated in anti-Japanese activities and in 1920 they fled to Manchuria. Like most Korean families, they resented the Japanese occupation of the entire Korean peninsula, which began on August 29, 1910. Another view seems to be that his family settled in Manchuria like many Koreans at the time to escape famine. Nonetheless, Kim’s parents, especially Kim's mother (Kang Ban Suk) played a role in some of the activist anti-Japanese struggle that was sweeping the peninsula. But, their exact involvement - whether their cause was missionary, nationalist, or both - is unclear. Still, Japanese repression of any and all opposition was brutal, resulting in the arrest and detention of more than 52,000 Korean citizens in 1912 alone. The repression forced many Korean families to flee Korea and settle in Manchuria. Kim Il-sung married twice. His first wife, Kim Jong-suk, gave birth to two sons and a daughter. Kim Jong-il was his oldest son. The other son (Kim Man-il, or Shura Kim) of this marriage died in 1947 in a swimming accident and his wife Kim Jong-suk died at the age of 31 while giving birth to a stillborn baby girl. Kim married Kim Sung-ae in 1952, and it is believed he had three children with her: Kim Yŏng-il (not to be confused with the former Premier of North Korea of the same name), Kim Kyŏng-il and Kim Pyong-il. Kim Pyong-il was prominent in Korean politics until he became ambassador to Hungary. Since 1998 he has been ambassador to Poland. In sum, Kim Il-sung had six children and eight grandchildren; one of them, Kim Jong-un, is the current leader of North Korea. Kim was reported to have other illegitimate children, as he was well known for having numerous affairs and secret relationships. They included Kim Hyŏn-nam (born 1972, head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers' Party since 2002). On 8 July 1994, at age 82, Kim Il-sung collapsed from a sudden heart attack. After the heart attack, Kim Jong-il ordered the team of doctors who were constantly at his father's side to leave, and for the country's best doctors to be flown in from Pyongyang. After several hours, the doctors from Pyongyang arrived, and despite their efforts to save him, Kim Il-sung died. After the traditional Confucian Mourning period, his death was declared thirty hours later. Kim Il-sung's death resulted in nationwide mourning and a ten-day mourning period was declared by Kim Jong-il. His funeral in Pyongyang was attended by hundreds of thousands of people flown from all over North Korea. Kim Il-sung's body was placed in a public mausoleum at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where his preserved and embalmed body lies under a glass coffin for viewing purposes. His head rests on a traditional Korean pillow and he is covered by the flag of the Workers' Party of Korea. Newsreel video of the funeral at Pyongyang was broadcast on several networks, and can now be found on various websites.

3) Kim Jong-il; (16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly referred to as North Korea, from 1994 to 2011. He succeeded his father and founder of the DPRK, Kim Il-sung, following the elder Kim's death in 1994. Kim Jong-il was the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea, and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, the fourth-largest standing army in the world. In April 2009, North Korea's constitution was amended to refer to him as the "supreme leader". The North Korean government announced his death on 19 December 2011, whereupon his third son, Kim Jong-un, was promoted to a senior position in the ruling Workers' Party and succeeded him. Soviet records show that Kim was born Yuri Irsenovich Kim[6] in the village of Vyatskoye, near Khabarovsk, in 1941,[7] where his father, Kim Il-sung, commanded the 1st Battalion of the Soviet 88th Brigade, made up of Chinese and Korean exiles. Kim Jong-il's mother, Kim Jong-suk, was Kim Il-sung's first wife. Inside his family, he was nicknamed Yura, while his younger brother Kim Man-il (born Alexander Irsenovich Kim) was nicknamed Shura. However, Kim Jong-il's official biography states he was born in a secret military camp on Baekdu Mountain in Japanese-occupied Korea on 16 February 1942. Official biographers claim that his birth at Baekdu Mountain was foretold by a swallow, and heralded by the appearance of a double rainbow across the sky over the mountain and a new star in the heavens. According to one comrade of Kim's mother, Lee Min, word of Kim's birth first reached an army camp in Vyatskoye via radio and that both Kim and his mother did not return there until the following year. In 1945, Kim was four years old when World War II ended and Korea regained independence from Japan. His father returned to Pyongyang that September, and in late November Kim returned to Korea via a Soviet ship, landing at Sonbong. The family moved into a former Japanese officer's mansion in Pyongyang, with a garden and pool. Kim Jong-il's brother drowned there in 1948. Unconfirmed reports suggest that five-year-old Kim Jong-il might have caused the accident. Reports indicate that his mother died in childbirth in 1949, however, unconfirmed reports suggest that his mother might have been shot and left to bleed to death. On 8 July 1994, Kim il-sung died at the age of 82 from a heart attack. Although Kim Jong-il had been his father's designated successor as early as 1974 and was the undisputed heir apparent since 1991, it took him more than three years to consolidate his power. According to a 2004 Human Rights Watch report, the North Korean government under Kim was "among the world's most repressive governments", having up to 200,000 political prisoners according to U.S. and South Korean officials, and no freedom of the press or religion, political opposition or equal education: "Virtually every aspect of political, social, and economic life is controlled by the government." Kim's government was accused of "crimes against humanity" for its alleged culpability in creating and prolonging the 1990s famine. According to the Sunday Telegraph, Kim had US$4 billion on deposit in European banks in case he ever needed to flee North Korea. The Sunday Telegraph reported that most of the money was in banks in Luxembourg. It was reported that Kim Jong-il had died of a suspected heart attack on 17 December 2011 at 08:30 while traveling by train to an area outside Pyongyang. It was reported in December 2012, however, that he had died "in a fit of rage" over construction faults at a crucial power plant project at Huichon in Jagang Province. He was succeeded by his youngest son Kim Jong-un, who was hailed by the Korean Central News Agency as the "Great Successor". According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), during his death a fierce snowstorm paused and the sky glowed red above the sacred Mount Paektu. The ice on a famous lake also cracked so loud that it seemed to shake the Heavens and the Earth. Kim Jong-il's funeral took place on 28 December in Pyongyang, with a mourning period lasting until the following day. South Korea's military was immediately put on alert after the announcement and its National Security Council convened for an emergency meeting, out of concern that political jockeying in North Korea could destabilise the region. Asian stock markets fell soon after the announcement, due to similar concerns. On 12 January 2012, North Korea called Kim Jong-il the "eternal leader" and announced that his body will be preserved and displayed at Pyongyang's Kumsusan Memorial Palace. Officials will also install statues, portraits, and "towers to his immortality" across the country. His birthday of 16 February has been declared "the greatest auspicious holiday of the nation", and has been named the Day of the Shining Star. In February 2012, on what would have been his 71st birthday, Kim Jong-il was posthumously made Dae Wonsu (usually translated as Generalissimo, literally Grand Marshal), the nation's top military rank. He had been named Wonsu (Marshal) in 1992 when North Korean founder Kim Il-sung was promoted to Dae Wonsu. Also in February 2012, the North Korean government created the Order of Kim Jong-il in his honor and awarded it to 132 individuals for services in building a "thriving socialist nation" and for increasing defense capabilities.

Kim Jong-un; born 8 January 1983; is the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. He is the son of Kim Jong-il (1941–2011) and the grandson of Kim Il-sung (1912–1994). He has held the titles of the First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, First Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea, the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, and presidium member of the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea. He was officially declared the supreme leader following the state funeral for his father on 28 December 2011. He is the third and youngest son of Kim Jong-il and his consort Ko Young-hee. From late 2010, Kim Jong-un was viewed as heir apparent to the leadership of the nation, and following his father's death, he was announced as the "Great Successor" by North Korean state television. At Kim Jong-il's memorial service, North Korean Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong-nam declared that "Respected Comrade Kim Jong-un is our party, military and country's supreme leader who inherits great comrade Kim Jong-il's ideology, leadership, character, virtues, grit and courage". On 30 December 2011, the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea formally appointed Kim as the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army. On 11 April 2012, the 4th Party Conference elected him to the newly created post of First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea. He was promoted to the rank of marshal of the DPRK in the Korean People's Army on 18 July 2012, consolidating his position as the supreme commander of the armed forces. He obtained two degrees, one in physics at Kim Il-sung University and another as an Army officer at the Kim Il-sung Military University. On 9 March 2014 Kim Jong-un was elected to the Supreme People's Assembly. He was unopposed but voters had the choice of voting yes or no. There was a record turn-out of voters and according to government officials all voted yes. The election was significant as it was the first time Kim Jong-un had faced an election since inheriting power following the death of his father in 2011. At 31 years of age, he is first North Korean leader born after the country's founding and the world's youngest head of state. Kim was named the world's 46th most powerful person by Forbes Magazine's List of The World's Most Powerful People in 2013, the third highest among Koreans after Ban Ki-moon and Lee Kun-hee. On 17 December 2011, Kim Jong-il died. Despite the elder Kim's plans, it was not immediately clear after his death whether Jong-un would in fact take full power, and what his exact role in a new government would be. Some analysts had predicted that when Kim Jong-il died, Jang Sung-taek would act as regent, as Jong-un was too inexperienced to immediately lead the country. On 25 December 2011, North Korean television showed Jang Sung-taek in the uniform of a general in a sign of his growing sway after the death of Kim Jong-il. A Seoul official familiar with North Korea affairs said it was the first time Jang has been shown on state television in a military uniform. His appearance suggested that Jang had secured a key role in the North's powerful military, which pledged its allegiance to Kim Jong-un. The cult of personality around Kim Jong-un was stepped up following his father's death. He was hailed as the "great successor to the revolutionary cause of Juche", "outstanding leader of the party, army and people" and "respected comrade who is identical to Supreme Commander Kim Jong-il", and was made chairman of the Kim Jong-il funeral committee. The Korean Central News Agency described Kim Jong-un as "a great person born of heaven", a propaganda term only his father and grandfather had enjoyed, while the ruling Workers' Party said in an editorial: "We vow with bleeding tears to call Kim Jong-un our supreme commander, our leader." On 25 July 2012 North Korean state media reported for the first time that Kim Jong-un is married to Ri Sol-ju. Ri, who appears to be in her early 20s, had been accompanying Kim Jong-un to public appearances for several weeks prior to the announcement. The BBC, quoting an analyst who spoke to The Korea Times of South Korea, reported that Kim Jong-il had hastily arranged his son's marriage after suffering a stroke in 2008. According to some sources, the two married in 2009 and Ri gave birth to a daughter in 2010. In March 2013, former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman visited Kim Jong-un in North Korea and on his return told the British tabloid newspaper The Sun that Ri had given birth to a healthy daughter. One South Korean government source speculated that "doctors induced labor to make sure the child was born in 2012, which marked the 100th anniversary of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung," but no exact birth date has been confirmed. Rodman told The Guardian in September 2013 that the couple's baby, a girl, is named Ju-ae.

4) Hamhŭng is de derde stad van Noord-Korea, en de hoofdstad van de provincie Hamgyŏng-namdo. Er wonen circa 874.000 mensen, verspreid over een gebied van 80 km². In de Koreaanse Oorlog werd tussen de 80% en de 90% van de stad vernietigd. Tussen 1955 en 1962 werd de stad, inclusief de bijbehorende industrie, opnieuw opgebouwd door de DDR. Hiervoor werden vele Noord-Koreanen naar de DDR overgebracht om daar opgeleid te worden. Hamhŭng is een belangrijk chemische industrie-centrum binnen Noord-Korea. Er is veel industrie en de stad speelt in belangrijke rol in de handel tussen Noord-Korea en de rest van de wereld. In en om de stad wordt onder andere textiel, metaal, olie en voedsel verwerkt. De stad heeft ook een belangrijke rol in het transportnetwerk van het land; er lopen diverse wegen van oostelijke havens naar het noorden. De stad is bekend vanwege het gerecht "Naengmyeon", een soort noodles.