Pictured above: The Choson Ilbo and Radio Free Asia claim this area behind the middle and high schools in Muhung 1-dong, Taedonggang-guyok (문흥1동, 대동강구역, 39.028720°, 125.786633°) contains tanks operated by the Pyongyang Guard Command.
According to the Choson Ilbo:
The North Korean Army’s Guard Command, a military unit tasked with protecting leader Kim Jong-il, is hiding scores of tanks in Pyongyang to quell any popular uprising, Radio Free Asia claimed Tuesday.
The U.S.-funded radio station quoted a defector from Pyongyang as saying, “There is a battalion of about 50 tanks from the Guard Command in the Taedong River area in eastern Pyongyang. They stage a field exercise about once a year.”
He said the tanks used to move only at the night to escape public notice. “All are hidden underground. I heard from families of officers of the tank battalion that there are also tanks in an underground near Moranbong,” a hill in downtown Pyongyang.
Kim Kwang-jin, another defector who works for the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said there used to be a battalion of tanks in an underground area beneath the Kumsusan Assembly Hall while Kim Il-sung was alive, but he was unsure whether it is still there.
Read the full story here:
Tanks ‘Ready to Be Used Against Uprising in Pyongyang’
Choson Ilbo
2/16/2011
