North Korea : Kim Memorial Displaces Homes

[Mid]

Kim Memorial Displaces Homes
Reported by Sung Hui-moon for RFA’s Korean service.
Translated by Min-Kyung Kang.
Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
2012-02-16

North Koreans must move to make room for a monument to the late “Dear Leader.”


North Korea honored leader Kim Jong Il (R), who died in December, with a statute of the former leader riding next to his father Kim Il Sung (L) unveiled in Pyongyang on Feb. 14, 2012.
AFP Photo/KCNA via KNS

Authorities in North Korea are preparing to tear down more than 200 houses in a northern province to make way for a memorial statue in honor of late dictator Kim Jong Il, kicking up a storm among residents who fear they will be left in the cold without alternative accommodation, residents in the area said.

Plans are afoot to build the “Eternal Tower” in North Hamkyung Province’s Hoeryong city in early April, one of many memorials announced since Kim’s death in December, including a bronze statue of him unveiled in Pyongyang ahead of his 70th birthday on Thursday, sources said.

More than 200 houses in the Osanduk-dong area of Hoeryong, the birthplace of Kim’s mother and former First Lady Kim Jong Suk, will be demolished to make way for the tower that will be surrounded by a park and other facilities in a bid to attract North Koreans to what is now a largely secluded area, sources told RFA, citing local residents.

The residents oppose the construction of the “Eternal Tower,” saying that Kim, accused of blatant human rights abuses during his 17-year rule under which thousands perished in a famine, is tormenting people even in death, according to the sources.

Hoeryong authorities have assured residents that new apartments will be built for them within two years, but did not specify when the alternate housing will be assigned to them or where they will be constructed, the sources said.

Some residents fear that the promised apartments will not be ready within that period as the city authorities prepare to tear down their houses by the end of March and start construction of the memorial in early April, the sources said.

They noted that even though Kim had ordered top priority for the construction of a food avenue project that included the popular Hoeryong Noodle Restaurant during a 2009 visit to his mother’s home city, it took nearly three years for it to be completed.



The late leader’s “Eternal Tower” will be situated near a museum dedicated to his mother.

The city authorities believe that when Kim’s memorial is built with a modern park in remote Osanduk-dong, people will flock there and other historical buildings for Kim Jong Suk will also benefit, the sources said.

Kim died suddenly of a heart attack on Dec. 17 at age 69 and was succeeded by his young and inexperienced son, Kim Jong Un.

On Thursday, a military parade presided over by new leader Kim Jong Un was held outside the Kumsusan Memorial Palace to mark what would have been Kim Jong Il’s 70th birthday. Kim Jong Il's embalmed body lay in state inside Kumsusan Palace while his father Kim Il Sung's body is already on display there.

The marble-lined palace, Kim Il Sung’s former official residence, was turned into a mausoleum after his death. The renovation, thought to have cost over U.S. $100 million, was carried out while North Koreans suffered a famine during the 1990s.

The Kims have ruled North Korea since its inception in 1948 following the division of the Korean peninsula into the communist-backed North and the U.S.-allied South. Kim Il Sung remains the country's "Eternal President" even after his death in 1994.

rfa.org

[hazz]

I guess if they compain enough they and their extended families will be garenteed new accomidation in a goolag.

[Cujo]

That whole fucking family needs a few well placed missiles.

[ChrisRich]

Even from his grave he continues to mess with his people.

[socal]

That whole fucking family needs a few well placed missiles.

Did you support the Iraq war ? If not then you are a hypocrite fool

[Hampsha]

Socal, the North Korea regime is 1000 times worse than Saddam's. Why didn't your assbuddy George Bush go after Korea? You are full of it, bloodsucker.

[hazz]

A lot of north korean solders were involved in fighting the civil war that the chinese communist party won, that has gained north korea a very special relationship with china. To carry out a military regime change in NK would not only be of dubious legality but without the consent of china, would be very difficult, if not impossible, to pull off. Then lets not forget they, unlike saddam, have huge amounts of chemical weapons that they can fire right into the middle of Seoul.

I don't really think that anyone is prepared to face the consequences of attempting regime change in north korea, so I don't think it even gets to the stage where the usual diplomatic/politcal hypocrisy gets played out.

[Mid]

Forced to Build Kim Monuments
Reported by Sung Hui Moon for RFA’s Korean service.
Translated by Juhyeon Park.
Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
2012-10-12

North Koreans of all ages are being enlisted to construct pricey memorials to the country’s leaders.


North Korea honored leader Kim Jong Il (R), who died in December, with a statute of the former leader riding next to his father Kim Il Sung (L) unveiled in Pyongyang on Feb. 14, 2012.
AFP Photo/KCNA via KNS

Authorities in North Korea have mobilized the residents of a city in North Hamgyong province, including elementary students and the elderly, to construct monuments in honor of the country’s leaders at a tremendous cost of resources and manpower, according to sources.

The mass mobilization has drawn complaints from the inhabitants of Hoeryong city, known as the hometown of current North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un’s grandmother, for committing the country’s meager assets to projects seen by many as “irrelevant to people’s lives,” the sources said.

All inhabitants of Hoeryong have been mobilized to build the structures, which include a “student palace for idolization” and several statues and murals, a source in Hoeryong told RFA’s Korean service on condition of anonymity.

“The North Korean government has even mobilized children in building a new facility for ‘idolization,’ even though it can’t manage the existing student palace that was built before.”

The source said that a two-story student palace had earlier been constructed in the city next to a statue of Kim Jong Suk—the first wife of North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung, and mother of former leader Kim Jong Il.

Kim Jong Il died in December last year, paving the way for his son, Kim Jong Un, to assume power.

But the source said that the government could no longer afford to cover the maintenance costs of the older student palace and had let it fall into disrepair from neglect.

Construction of the new student palace has been given priority as part of a national campaign to improve the country and will be “six times larger” than the previous one, the source said.

Hoeryong officials began delivering construction materials to the site in spring this year and shuttered all factories in the city beginning in May, reassigning the local workforce to assist in building the structure.

“In order to reduce the time required to construct the building, the government has recently mobilized people 60 years of age and older, retired party members, members of the Women’s Organization, and youngsters,” the source said.


‘Totally irrelevant’

A university student from Hoeryong, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that he had been instructed to assist in the construction of an eight meter (26 feet) tall, 6.5 meter (21 feet) wide mosaic portrait of Kim Jong Il on Osan Hill in the city.

“No matter who you are or what you do, every resident in Hoeryong has been forced to participate in building a mosaic at least once,” the student said.

“More than 2,000 murals and statues have been built all over the country. That has cost quite a lot.”

The source added that Hoeryong city authorities have even required kindergarten students to travel to the mosaic construction site to remove gravel as a “show of loyalty to Kim Jong Il.”

He said some residents had begun to complain that the North Korean government was wasting money and effort in building facilities “totally irrelevant to people’s lives.”

Earlier this year, authorities in Hoeryong were preparing to tear down more than 200 houses in the city’s Osanduk-dong area to make way for a memorial statue in honor of the late Kim Jong Il known as the “Eternal Tower.”

Plans for the tower include a park and other facilities, which sources told RFA was part of a bid to attract North Koreans to what is now a largely secluded area.

Hoeryong authorities have assured residents that new apartments will be built for them within two years, but did not specify when the alternate housing will be assigned to them or where they will be constructed, the sources said.

Construction on the memorial was due to begin in April.

Pricey monuments to the late leader have been constructed across the country since his death, at a time when North Koreans are facing chronic food shortages and many are unable to feed their families.

The U.N. said last autumn that some three million people would require food aid in North Korea this year.

Kim Il Sung’s former official residence—a marble-lined palace—was turned into a mausoleum after his death. The renovation, thought to have cost over U.S. $100 million, was carried out while North Koreans suffered a famine during the 1990s.
rfa.org

[socal]

Socal, the North Korea regime is 1000 times worse than Saddam's. Why didn't your assbuddy George Bush go after Korea? You are full of it, bloodsucker.

Of course Bush would love to fucking kill these cocksuckers but the peace mongers wont allow it

And the USA did intervene in the Korean war. If they didn't then the whole fucking country would look like the North. Is that what you want ?

Saddle hussain was in violation of the peace treaties and UN resolutions that were set out after the first gulf war.

[socal]

A lot of north korean solders were involved in fighting the civil war that the chinese communist party won, that has gained north korea a very special relationship with china. To carry out a military regime change in NK would not only be of dubious legality but without the consent of china, would be very difficult, if not impossible, to pull off. Then lets not forget they, unlike saddam, have huge amounts of chemical weapons that they can fire right into the middle of Seoul.

I don't really think that anyone is prepared to face the consequences of attempting regime change in north korea, so I don't think it even gets to the stage where the usual diplomatic/politcal hypocrisy gets played out.

War is tough. It would be no easy feat but I think Even China and the US could make a deal to knock the North off.

Nobody can deny that it would be better to rid the world of the North K regime.

[kmart]

Nah. Their little Stalinist social experiment needs to be replaced from within. Historically, people only rise up and force change when they're hungry.

[Mid]

N. Korea puts Kim Jong-Il's yacht in mausoleum: report
7/12/2012

North Korea has put Kim Jong-Il's yacht in the family mausoleum and had to build a railway to get it there, a report said Friday as Pyongyang prepares to mark one year since the late leader's death.


File photo of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace where North Korean founding father Kim Il-Sung lies in state in the North Korean capital Pyongyang. Kim Jong-Il's yacht has been put in the family mausoleum and a railway had to be built to get it there, a report said Friday as Pyongyang prepares to mark one year since the late leader's death.

The reclusive state has been putting together a collection of some of Kim's possessions at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, which houses the preserved body of his father, Kim Il-Sung, Yonhap news agency said.

Quoting unidentified South Korean officials, Yonhap added that the embalming of Kim Jong-Il's body, which is eventually expected to be laid next to that of his father in the imposing structure, is almost complete.

To get to the palace, the yacht was sailed from the eastern port of Wonsan 1,500 nautical miles around the Korean peninsula to the western port of Nampo, from where it was towed 44 kilometers (27 miles) inland to Pyongyang.

Power lines had to be taken down, a temporary rail track was laid and part of the wall of the mausoleum knocked down to get the boat inside, the report said.

North Korea has reportedly set December 1-20 as a mourning period for Kim Jong-Il, who died of a heart attack on December 17.

He was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-Un in a third-generation power transition.

bangkokpost.com