ManyongdaePersonal travel impressions in stories and pictures from Manyongdae, North Korea. Click on the pictures to enlarge, send as a free e-card, or download for personal use. You can locate Manyongdae and navigate the world using Google Earth Show on map
N 38° 59.508
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Of course, with such an important President, his roots are very important, as is his childhood. So, the Koreans changed history once again and invented Kim's birthplace: Manyongdae, a lovely hill near the capital and the river. It was well understood that to become a real Hero of the People, the background of the President should be as humble as possible. So, replicas of very modest dimensions of his native house and childhood surroundings were placed in the Manyongdae Park. Some items were placed in them, but since we are talking about God here, it is not allowed to enter the houses. Pictures of the grandfathers of the Late President can be seen in one of them. Also, a picture of Kim's son has been added.
The guides cannot stop talking about the fact that the poor President did not see his parents alive after allegedly winning the guerilla war against the Japanese, only his grandparents. Every story they tell you is even more sad than the previous one. Anyway, according to modern North Korean history, this is the place where Kim Il Sung grew up, played as a child, pondered over the future of the country as a 13-year old revolutionary in the 1920s, and laid the basis of his endless wisdom which would lead the country to such prosperity.
The most incredible story they told us, though, was the Story of the Jar. When standing in front of one of the houses, there are three big jars on display, and the third is completely distorted and seemingly unusable. In these surroundings, where everything related to the Late President, the Great Leader and the Genius of the 20th Century, the innocent visitor frowns upon seeing this jar which appears to be misplaced. However, the explanation is very obvious. The Mother of the Great Leader was extremely poor, and she did not have the money to buy a new jar when she needed one. Since she was also very practical, she bought a misformed jar, which obviously cost less money. Hence the importance of the Distorted Jar in the life of the Late President. His background is as poor as any North Korean could be. His brilliance made him President. Kim Il Sung, the personification of the American Dream.
