North Korea Google Earth

North Korea Uncovered v.16
Download it here

laurent-kabila.jpg

The most recent version of North Korea Uncovered (North Korea Google Earth) has been published.  Since being launched, this project has been continuously expanded and to date has been downloaded over 32,000 times.

Pictured to the left is a statue of Laurent Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  This statue, as well as many others identified in this version of the project, was built by the North Koreans. According to a visitor:

From the neck down, the Kabila monument looks strangely like Kim Jong Il: baggy uniform, creased pants, the raised arm, a little book in his left hand. From the neck up, the statue is the thick, grim bald mug of Laurent Kabila (his son Joseph is the current president). “The body was made in North Korea,” explains my driver Felix. In other words, the body is Kim Jong Il’s, but with a fat, scowling Kabila head simply welded on.

This is particularly interesting because there are no known pictures of a Kim Jong il statue.  The only KJI statue that is reported to exist is in front of the National Security Agency in Pyongyang.  If a Kim Jong il statue does in fact exist, it might look something like this.

Thanks again to the anonymous contributors, readers, and fans of this project for your helpful advice and location information. This project would not be successful without your contributions.

Version 16 contains the following additions: Rakwon Machine Complex, Sinuiju Cosmetics Factory, Manpo Restaurant, Worker’s Party No. 3 Building (including Central Committee and Guidance Dept.), Pukchang Aluminum Factory, Pusan-ri Aluminum Factory, Pukchung Machine Complex, Mirim Block Factory, Pyongyang General Textile Factory, Chonnae Cement Factory, Pyongsu Rx Joint Venture, Tongbong Cooperative Farm, Chusang Cooperative Farm, Hoeryong Essential Foodstuff Factory, Kim Ki-song Hoeryong First Middle School , Mirim War University, electricity grid expansion, Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground (TSLG)” is also known as the “Musudan-ri Launching Station,” rebuilt electricity grid, Kumchang-ri suspected underground nuclear site, Wangjaesan Grand Monument, Phothae Revolutionary Site, Naedong Revolutionary Site, Kunja Revolutionary Site, Junggang Revolutionary Site, Phophyong Revolutionary Site, Samdung Revolutionary Site, Phyongsan Granite Mine, Songjin Iron and Steel Complex (Kimchaek), Swedish, German and British embassy building, Taehongdan Potato Processing Factory, Pyongyang Muyseum of Film and Theatrical Arts, Overseas Monuments built by DPRK: Rice Museum (Muzium Padi) in Malaysia, Statue de Patrice Lumumba (Kinshasa, DR Congo), National Heroes Acre (Windhoek, Namibia), Derg Monument (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), National Heroes Acre (Harare, Zimbabwe), New State House (Windhoek, Namibia), Three Dikgosi (Chiefs) Monument (Gaborone, Botswana), 1st of May Square Statue of Agostinho Neto (Luanda, Angola), Momunment Heroinas Angolas (Luanda, Angola), Monument to the Martyrs of Kifangondo Battle (Luanda, Angola), Place de l’étoile rouge, (Porto Novo, Benin), Statue of King Béhanzin (Abomey, Benin), Monument to the African Renaissance (Dakar, Senegal), Monument to Laurent Kabila [pictured above] (Kinshasa, DR Congo).
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10 Responses to “North Korea Google Earth”

  1. Cordelia says:

    Very exciting! Thanks sooooo much for this! 🙂

  2. Simon says:

    There aren’t any statues of Kim Jong Il so the body is not his, it does bear a lot of similarities to the Kim Il Sung on Mansudae though

  3. Arie says:

    “1st of may square statue of Agostinho Neto (Lunada, Angola), Momunment Heroinas Angolas (Lunada, Angola)”

    should be Luanda…

  4. Michael Madden says:

    I hate to sound a niddling corrective note, but there is a statue of General Kim Jong il. Select foreign visitors have seen it, and there are several defectors’ accounts of such a statue, as conveyed in the DailyNK article. The statue is located in front of the campus of the university and training centre of the Ministry of People’s Security.

  5. Simon says:

    I’ve never heard of it, you sure its a bronze statue? the only one I have ever heard rumoured is at Yongbyon (town, not facility), and I’ve never seen a picture of it, any chance of zooming in on this university and spotting it?
    There is a cast statue at the international friendship exhibition but this isnt really the same as having one out in full view.

  6. Michael Madden says:

    Here it is, as much as I hate questioning someone who knows more about the statuary of Pyongyang than I can remember. I don’t know about the composition of the statue. The word on the DPRK street is that the statue of General Kim is either gold or gold leaf.

    http://wikimapia.org/#lat=39.0802948&lon=125.767563&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2

  7. Simon says:

    thanks for posting that, very interesting indeed, sadly not accessible from Beijing at the moment but I’m off to the US for a holiday in a couple of hours so will try again when there, not sure I’ll be touring the Ministry of People’s Security any time soon (hopefully not anyway!) but will keep an eye out for it even so!
    BTW on the subject of mobile phones; which this thread isn’t) there are notably loads of them in use now in Pyongyang (I was there until yesterday) and they are selling for a much lower price than last time a few years ago. Now 3 models are available for 140, 150, and 160 Euros with prices expected to fall over the April 15th holiday period. Foreigners have to pay this plus a 450 Euro ‘entry fee’ (read: foreigner tax) and international calls are very expensive indeed but receiving them is not too bad. I have an application form but not the required dosh to actually get one yet so no more news on what they do, quality of service etc. However I was in the Changwangsan Hotel coffee shop two days ago and of the 9 customers there 3 of them were yakking away like they were born with the infernal machines, a new world of communication beckons (or something!)