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Yanggakdo Golf Course is no more…

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

UPDATE 2: A recent tourist who visited Yanggak Island in Pyongyang sent in this photo near the construction site:

삼의종합봉센터

UPDATE 1 (2012-7-17): It looks like the progress on this Chinese-funded health complex on Yangak Island is continuing.  I found this recent photo taken by a tourist:

ORIGINAL POST (2011-11-29):

 

Pictured above (L) is a Google Earth satellite image of the Yanggakdo Golf Club as of 2010-10-6.  Pictured to the right is the course as it looks “today”.  It has been removed.  It looks like something new is being constructed in its place!

Although this nine-hole course has been destroyed, there are still several golf options available in the DPRK if you get the chance:

Pyongyang Golf Course (18 holes):

Google Earth:  38.893709°, 125.435921°

 

Kumgangsan Golf course (18 holes):

Google Earth:  38.712574°, 128.213298°

 

KEDO Driving Range:

Google Earth:  40.045135°, 128.322831°

 

Pyongyang Driving Range:

Google Earth:  39.011826°, 125.694263°

 

And this three-hole course at an exclusive leadership compound (Wonhung-ri, Samsok-guyok, Pyongyang):

Google Earth:  39.110016°, 125.996765°

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Posted in Construction, Golf, Sports | 4 Comments »

Hardship changes marriage patterns in DPRK

Monday, November 28th, 2011

According ot the Choson Ilbo:

More and more North Korean women are marrying younger men as their superior earning power makes them increasingly eligible. Park Young-ja of Ewha Womans University’s Institute of Unification Studies told a seminar Thursday more women are becoming breadwinners as the North’s economic hardship deepens.

“Young women are avoiding marriage or opt for informal cohabitation. And an increasing number of women are choosing younger men so that they can have more control in the relationship.”

One female North Korean defector in her 30s said, “Even if the authorities tell people not to, men are living with women who are five or six years older, because these women have experience making ends meet.”

The number of divorces initiated by women is on the rise as well. The regime is threatening to expel divorcees, but to no avail. “North Koreans don’t take warnings from the regime seriously because they believe that there is no need to report marriage or divorce to the government,” Park said.

“Recently an increasing number of people don’t bother to register their partnership and just go their separate ways after a few months or years if they want.”

Hardship Changes Marriage Patterns in N.Korea
Choson Ilbo
2011-11-28

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Posted in Civil society, Dating/Courting, Economic reform | Comments Closed

Koryolink offers mobile access to “Rodong Sinmun”

Monday, November 28th, 2011

According to the Daily NK:

North Korean cell phone users are now reportedly able to read the news and views of the Chosun Workers’ Party on the move.

Chosun Shinbo, a publication run from Japan by the General Association of North Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun), announced the news on Saturday, saying, “Koryolink, Chosun’s 3G cell phone service provider, has begun a service allowing the reading of Rodong Shinmun, one of the major newspapers, on cell phones.”

Chosun Shinbo also announced its own plans to set up a mobile service in the near future.

The Rodong Shinmun cell phone application is just the latest in a long line of interesting developments in the Koryolink story. Last January the company introduced a multimedia messaging service (MMS). Later in the year it also introduced a video call service, which received a positive reaction from younger users.

As expected, Chosun Shinbo claimed that many North Korean citizens are enjoying the new service on the way to work. One Pyongyang man was quoted by the paper as saying, “It’s very convenient being able to read the news every morning on my mobile phone. You can also go back and read all the news from a few months ago, too, which is great.”

Another resident of the North Korean capital reportedly commented that reading the news on their phone is the first and most important thing they do in the morning.

Interestingly, Chosun Central TV ran a program on November 7th including content teaching mobile phone users of the social etiquette they needed to follow, telling them to avoid bothering people nearby by lowering the ringtone or setting the device to vibrate mode, and to avoid speaking too loudly.

The Wall Street Journal also covered this development.

Read the full story here:
Rodong Shinmun on the Move
Daily NK
Cho Jong-ik
2011-11-28

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Posted in Cell phones, Communications, Domestic publication, Orascom Telecom Holding | Comments Closed

Naenara commends DPRK “math-letes”

Monday, November 28th, 2011

Pictured above (Google Earth): Pyongyang Middle School No. 1

According to the Nov 2011 issue of Korea Magazine (via Naenara):

The International Math Olympiad that ran in the Netherlands in July drew more than 560 students from over 100 countries and regions.

The annual Olympiad attracts worldwide attention as it is a good occasion for judging the level of education and the prospect of scientific development of each country.

All of the six students from the DPRK were highly appraised. Mun So Min, Mun Hak Myong and Hong Chung Song from Pyongyang Secondary School No.1 have won gold medals and Ri Yong Hyon and Ryu Song Chol from Pyongyang Secondary School No.1 and Kim Hyo Song from East Pyongyang Secondary School No.1 silver medals.

After a prize-giving ceremony was over, their tutor Ri Kwang Il said with pride to journalists that their successes were the fruition of the excellent educational system of the DPRK.

In the DPRK favourable conditions are provided for educating even one or two children in a remote mountainous village and isolated islet. School bus, train and ship can be seen.

Specialists, famous professors and doctors strive to find out talented children in time and train them.

Under the good educational system, the six students from the DPRK have studied to their heart’s content. Thus they gave full play to their abilities in the international contest.

They are now working harder out of desire to live up to the expectations of their motherland.

A minor translation note…recently the official North Korean media began translating “중학교” as “Secondary School” rather than “Middle School”.  Thus, Pyongyang Secondary School No. 1 is more commonly known in English as the Pyongyang Middle School No. 1.   You can see it in Google Maps here.

Back to the main point: According to the International Math Olympiad’s web page, the DPRK came in a respectable seventh place in the 2011 tournament.  Unmentioned in the Naeanra article is that the DPRK is the only team to have ever been disqualified in the tournament’s history, and it has been twice: in 2010 and 1991.

I wrote a previous post about the tournament here.

 

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Posted in Civil society, Education, Sports | Comments Closed

Dutch stamp dealer accused of being a spy in North Korea

Sunday, November 27th, 2011

By Michael Rank

A Dutch stamp dealer who was arrested in North Korea this summer has told how he was held in solitary confinement for two weeks and threatened with spending 15 years in prison for spying.

Willem Van der Bijl said in a telephone interview that he had visited North Korea about 24 times since 1998 in order to buy stamps, postal stationery and propaganda posters, and that three of his business contacts were arrested with him last August. Although he was freed after a highly unpleasant two weeks during which he was held in a two-by-three metre cell, he has no idea what has happened to his North Korean colleagues, but fears they will be severely punished.

He said he had been “intimidated” by his interrogators but not physically mistreated during his detention. “They yelled at me but did not hit me”, he said, adding that he was accused of being a spy apparently because of the large number of photographs he had taken of the North Korean countryside during trips to factories outside Pyongyang to discuss possible joint ventures.

He was released after signing a confession to his alleged crimes, and said the North Koreans confiscated his laptop and camera as well as a Kim Il Sung badge that had been given to him, but his money was returned to him. “I was happy to leave,” he said, adding that “There was nothing really wrong in what I did…All I did in North Korea was fairly correct”.

Van der Bijl, 60, photographed here with an interview in Dutch, said his North Korean colleagues were held in the same interrogation centre as he was and that he was deeply concerned that “They will have to face trial, and I will never see them again.”

Although mainly a stamp dealer with a stamp shop in Utrecht, he said he had become interested in collecting propaganda posters during his last few visits, and had a collection of thousands of posters.

He said North Korean officials seemed divided in their attitude as to whether such posters should be sold to foreigners. “The ‘doves’ say this art is popular in the west and should be sold; the ‘hawks’ do not want to export secret paintings, they are meant for the Korean people,” Van der Bijl said.

He said his hopes mounted every Tuesday and Saturday that he would be released as there are flights from Pyongyang to Beijing on those days, and as time progressed he became more worried that he would be sentenced to spending up to 15 years in jail for espionage. When he was freed he was told he could apply for a visa to visit North Korea again, but he told NKEW said he had no wish to do so as long as the current regime remains in power.

He said he had taken car journeys about 120 km outside Pyongyang nominally to visit companies to discuss joint ventures, but he was more interested in taking photographs of the impoverished countryside, and that North Korean factories were too dilapidated for there to be any serious chance of doing business with them.

Somewhat surprisingly, Van der Bijl is quoted on two official North Korean websites here and here before his arrest concerning local elections in North Korea in July. He visited a polling station during the elections and was quoted as saying, “Looking round the poll, I have been greatly impressed by the free and democratic elections and I have had a better understanding of the DPRK’s reality.

“In the DPRK every citizen is eligible to vote and to be elected. Those who have worked a lot for the people are elected as deputies. The popular election system of the DPRK is really excellent.”

He confirmed he had spoken to North Korean reporters at a Pyongyang polling station, but said all he had told them was that he had never seen elections run in such a way before, and strongly denied praising the elections as free and fair

Also surprisingly, Van der Bijl is shown wearing a Kim badge in two photographs of him on the Pyongyang Times websites. It’s rare for foreigners to be given a Kim badge and still rarer for them to be shown wearing one in the official North Korean media. Van der Bijl said he was unsure where the photos were taken. One of the websites shows Van der Bijl’s signature, copied from his passport.

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Posted in Domestic publication, Foreign direct investment, International trade, Korea Today, Political economy | Comments Closed

ROK historians visit Kaesong to study Manwoldae renovation

Sunday, November 13th, 2011

Pictured above (Google Earth): Manwoldae Palace in Kaesong, DPRK. See in Google Maps here.

According to Yonhap:

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said Sunday it has allowed a group of historians to visit North Korea this week for the resumption of a long-stalled joint project to excavate an ancient royal palace site.

The approval is another sign of lessening tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula, as Seoul is easing restrictions on civilian contact with Pyongyang following a year of animosity caused by the North’s deadly military attacks on the South.

On Monday, 14 South Korean historians will travel to the North’s border city of Kaesong, the site of Manwoldae, the royal palace of the Goryeo Dynasty that ruled the Korean Peninsula from 918 to 1392.

During their 10-day stay in Kaesong, the South Korean experts will conduct a safety survey on the site with their North Korean counterparts, a ministry official said.

“Based on the results of the safety survey, the joint excavation work will begin on Nov. 24 for one month,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.

The two Koreas launched the excavation project in 2007, but South Korea halted it last year as part of its sanctions against Pyongyang for the March sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on the North.

Seoul’s new Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik, who took office in September, has said he would consider “flexibility” in dealing with North Korea. The ministry is in charge of North Korea policy.

Kaesong served as the capital for most of Goryeo’s reign. Now it is home to an industrial complex run by both Koreas.

The Choson Ilbo also covered this story.

Read the full story here:
S. Korea OKs historians’ visit to N. Korea
Yonhap
2011-11-13

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Posted in Civil society, Construction, South Korea | Comments Closed

Interesting weekend fare: Cars, cola, Disney, history, and lift troubles

Sunday, November 6th, 2011

Cars 

Uriminzokkiri posted this short video of rush-hour traffic in Pyongyang (YouTube):

I will leave it up to the reader to determine if the video was staged. What is more interesting to me is to see the variety of vehicles used in the shots.  I saw at least one American Dodge Van in the footage (similar to the one I saw parked next to the Pueblo in 2005).  If you know a lot about cars, feel free to try identifying other vehicles in the footage.

And continuing on the automotive front–a tourist to the DPRK took this picture in September 2010:

The picture above is of an American-made, petrol-guzzling “Hummer H2” (MSRP in 2008 – USD$53,286; 10 mpg-US; 24 L/100 km; 12 mpg-imp). The license plate on the vehicle is 평양 22-2722.

In September 2011, Eric Lafforgue took the picture below of what appears to be a second Hummer on the streets of the DPRK.

The license plate on this vehicle is “23-199”. I cannot read the city name on the plate.  According to the photographer:

During my stay in North Korea, i [sp] saw 2 Hummer cars. This is the fist time i [sp] hear north korean people making cristisms about something in their country! They all told me it was a shame to see such a car in North Korea, as it needs lot of fuel. Some people told me that the car number tells that it belongs to a local media (press or tv).

Cola

Mr. Lafforgue has also brought up another interesting topic through his pictures: North Korea’s cola wars!

 

On the left is a Picture of Cocoa “crabonated drink” [sp] taken by Eric Lafforgue in 2008.  On the right is a picture of  “코코아 탄산단물” (Translation: “Cocoa Carbonated Drink”) taken by Eric Lafforgue in September 2011.

I might have been inclined to believe they were the same product with different labels (and maybe they are?), however, they appear to be manufactured by different companies.  The cola on the left is manufactured by a company called “룡진” (Ryongjin), a company about which I cannot find any additional information, and the beverage on the right is manufactured by “모란봉” (Moranbong).  I presume that “Moranbong” is actually the Moranbong Carbonated Fruit Juice J.V. Company. According to Naenara:

Moranbong Carbonated Fruit Juice J.V. Company
Add: Taedonggang District, Pyongyang, DPR Korea
Fax: 850-2-381-4410

The company formed in 2004 produces a wide assortment of carbonated fruit juice and health drink.

It has an affiliated factory equipped with hi-tech facilities that conform to hygienic requirements of GMP, ranging from production of bottles and drinks to packing.

Its products include apple, grape, peach, orange, cocoa, lemon and strawberry carbonated juices.

A multifunctional super-antioxidant health drink “Pirobong” is a drawing card in the world market.

The company will steadily increase investment in the development of new brand of drinks and further promote exchange and collaboration with partners across the world.

So why does the DPRK produce competing colas? Wouln’t that be wasteful duplication of processes? No.  Monopolys are generally more wasteful than competitive firms. Though in the past there were few producers of carbonated drinks in the DPRK (Ryongsong Food Factory, Kyongryon Patriotic Soda Factory), the DPRK seems to have moved away from near-monopoly production to a more competitive industrial organization in the production of soda.

Kim Jong-il’s sister, Kim Kyong-hui (KKH), is director of the Light Industry Department in the Worker’s Party and as a result holds all colas in her job portfolio. Without having any special data on the DPRK’s cola market, I would speculate that KKH promotes competition between the different soda producers to increase efficiency and profits for the ultimate goal of improving the positions of her discretionary official and unofficial budgets.

As an aside, earlier this year Forbes ran a story about meetings held between the DPRK’s Taepung International Investment Group and Coca Cola. Taephing is directed by Jang Song-thaek, Kim Kyong-hui’s husband.

Disney

In the past I have pointed out the appearance of Disney characters on North Korean apparel (see here for example). Now they are showing up on mobile phones:

History 1

Here is a video of Lim Su-kyung in Pyongyang (1989). Here is a story about her in the Daily NK. I think I just found her Facebook profile!

 

History 2

Here is a map of Pyongyang produced int he 1800s.  Other maps of the region here. Hat tip to Kwang On Yoo.

 

Lift troubles

Here is a 30+ minute video shot in Pyongyang–nearly entirley in the dark. Hat tip to Leonid Petrov.

The video caption reads: “We were touring the 3 Revolutions Exhibition in Pyongyang in 2009, when our elevator lost all power and 11 of us were stuck in blackness, hanging by a North Korean thread.”

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Posted in Animation, Art, Automobiles, Light Industry, Light Industry Department, Manufacturing, Transportation | Comments Closed

Japan – DPRK football match 2011

Sunday, November 6th, 2011

UPDATE 1 (2011-11-6): According to the Wall Street Journal:

Japanese football fans are scrambling to secure one of the few seats available on an organized spectator tour to watch the national football team’s World Cup qualifying match against North Korea in Pyongyang on Nov. 15.

It is the first time Japan will play against its enigmatic neighbor on the latter’s home soil in 22 years.

The absence of diplomatic ties between Japan and North Korea has turned coordinating plans into a logistical workout for the Japan Football Association. It has also put a high premium on the 150 tickets available to Japanese citizens, according to the limit imposed by North Korea. The JFA said it is still negotiating with North Korea to try to raise that number.

Just 65 tickets are available for the official tour package. Ticket sales opened Tuesday, sold via Tokyo-based Nishitetsu Travel Co. The travel agency was already taking down names for a waiting list by the following morning.

The three-day, two-night excursion is priced at about ¥288,000, or roughly $3,700. Because there are currently no direct flights to Pyongyang, a special charter was arranged.

Even then, the trip was almost called off. The Japanese government only gave its formal approval Tuesday in support of the team, JFA officials and fans visiting the country: Tokyo has strongly discouraged residents from visiting North Korea citing economic sanctions imposed by Tokyo after a missile launch in 2006. (North Koreans are banned from entering Japan)

Meanwhile, another 65 tickets that were available for the trip were sold. Seats for a choice of two packages to Pyongyang sold out last month, according to Serie Co., a Tokyo-based travel company that organizes football tours. While there was more interest in attending this game compared to past qualifying matches, company president Masashi Tokuda said, there was also more anxiety. Following numerous inquiries, Mr. Tokuda and other employees went to North Korea to inspect the destination spots that would be on the tour—Kim Il-Sung Stadium where the match will be held, restaurants, hotel and sightseeing areas. The company posted its findings on its website.

While Japan isn’t alone in its strained relations with North Korea, traces of the two countries’ unique history has materialized on the football field. North Korea’s national team draws a lot of its power from a clutch of players who are ethnically Korean, but were born and raised in Japan and identify themselves as North Korean. Now playing in Japan’s professional football league, they are third- or fourth-generation Koreans who migrated or were forcefully moved to Japan when the Japanese colonized the country from 1910-1945.

As for the match itself, Japan will be a heavy favorite, ranked No. 17 in FIFA’s world rankings to North Korea at No. 124.

And the Samurai Blue most recently defeated North Korea 1-0 in September in Saitama, Japan.

But, as sports fans know all too well, home-team advantage can be a game-changer. North Korea won 2-0 the last time the two countries faced off in Pyongyang in June 1989.

Win, lose or tie, Japan fans making the trip should bear one other thing in mind: Both tour companies said bringing noise makers and team banners to North Korea is prohibited.

ORIGINAL POST (2011-11-2): First of all, Japan is going to allow a delegation to visit the DPRK for a World Cup qulaifying match.  According to the Mainichi Daily News:

Japan will allow supporters of the national soccer team along with accompanying press to visit Pyongyang to watch a World Cup qualifier against North Korea later this month, top government spokesman Osamu Fujimura said Tuesday.

The decision is an exceptional measure to be taken by Japan, which has asked its nationals to refrain from visiting North Korea as part of sanctions imposed following North Korea’s missile launch in July 2006.

The chief Cabinet secretary said at a news conference that the exception will only apply for members of the national team, and accompanying reporters and supporters who register for official tours organized by the Japan Football Association to attend the Nov. 15 qualifier for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Fujimura said the government decided to make an exception for the match because there is “great national interest.” He also said the government believes it should avoid any negative feedback on Japan’s bid to host international competitions such as the Olympics by not having politics interfere in sports activities.

According to JFA vice president Kozo Tashima, North Korea plans to only allow up to 150 Japanese supporters to enter the country. The JFA will continue to negotiate with North Korea about increasing the number, Tashima said.

The JFA, after discussing the matter with the government, initially asked the North Korean soccer association to arrange for the entry of 200 to 300 people. But the request was rejected because of limited capacity at hotels and on chartered flights, according to Tashima.

The JFA said the official tour led by Nishitetsu Travel Co. will offer 65 places and its application process will last until Friday. About 10 JFA officials are expected to join the tour.

The government will ban travelers from carrying goods to or from North Korea and ask them to notify the government if they intend to take over 100,000 yen in cash.

In August, Japan allowed the North Korean national team to enter the country for a World Cup qualifying match, in a similar exception to the ban in principle on North Koreans coming to Japan that was imposed in protest at Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons testing in October 2006 among other bilateral issues.

Read the full story here:
Japan to allow supporters to visit N. Korea for World Cup qualifier
Mainichi Daily News
2011-11-2

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Posted in Football (soccer), Japan, Sports | Comments Closed

On “8.3 couples”

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

A recent story in the Donga-Ilbo asserts that prostitution and other forms of “adult business” are on the rise in the DPRK. Of course the article mentions neither when this specific trend became noticeable (from last year or from five years ago) nor does it mention the locality or magnitude of the trend.  Of course the claim is impossible to determine with any precision since such comprehensive time-series data is not available from the DPRK.  We do not even have good data on prostitution arrests, which would certainly understate the actual size of the industry. I believe it is fair to assume from the abundance of open sources, however, that prostitution has increased significantly in the DPRK since the arrival of the Arduous March.

Though we do not have any hard data, an interesting anecdote in the Donga-Ilbo  story (which I believe might be true) points not only to a general unofficial public acknowledgement of prostitution, but also shows a “North Korean sense of humor” about the situation:

Rumors say the term “8/3 couple,” meaning people engaged in extramarital affairs, is spreading widely. 8/3 refers to the day in August 1984, when then North Korean heir apparent Kim Jong Il instructed authorities “to use by-products from factories or workplaces to produce daily necessities for people.” The term is changed to sarcastically mean “pseudo” and “fake.”

From the interviews I have done with North Korean defectors, I have learned that “8.3” references are a “common” put-down…meaning either “fake” or “low-quality”. It is entirely plausible to me that this term has made the transition to categorizing the prostitution industry as well.

You can read the full story here:
N. Korean women turning to prostitution, porn to earn money
Donga-Ilbo
2011-10-10

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Posted in Civil society, Dating/Courting | Comments Closed

Pyongyang fireworks

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011


On October 8, 2010, the DPRK held a large-scale fireworks show on the Taedong River.  The current Google Earth imagery of Pyongyang, taken on October 6, 2010, shows the infrastructure used in the fireworks show:

Click the image to see a larger version in a different window. On the left side of the river near Kim Il-sung Square is a series of new water jets (water cannons) these are used to shoot decorative patterns of water through the air (accompanied by colorful lasers!). The system is approximately 117 meters long, and according to satellite imagery, was installed sometime between December 19, 2009 and October 6, 2010—though footage on Youtube dates to July 18, 2010).  It appears to be a permanent installation which supplements the previously-built dual water cannons that were already in the Taedong River.

In addition to the new water jets, we can see three floating platforms (barges) from which the fireworks were launched. These are temporary structures which can be assembled and disassembled with relative ease. Each platform is approximately 119 meters long. Given available satellite imagery it is unclear where these barges are kept for the remainder of the year.

If any readers have the time or interest in finding out what this kind of hardware would cost in the US, I would be interested in knowing.

This new fireworks system is apparently made possible by the productive powers of CNC technology.  According to KCNA:

New Fireworks Developed

Pyongyang, October 6 (KCNA) — More than 100 kinds of new fireworks have been developed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

They, based on the three elements of the modern fireworks technology — software, ignition control device and firecrackers — have reached a high level in color, brightness and formative artistry.

All the technologies and materials needed for the new fireworks have been developed and made in Korea.

The fireworks, multi-dimensional in fire cycle, rhythmic display and bursting point and scope in the air, fully represent the feelings of the Korean people.

Meanwhile, a CNC-based fireworks displaying system has been established and a device developed to definitely guarantee fireworks display in any atmospheric conditions.

The new fireworks, which have been successfully tested on several occasions, will make their debut in the forthcoming holiday of the Korean people.

Here is what KCNA had to say about the fireworks show which tookplace two days after this picture was taken:

Firework galas celebrating the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea were held here Friday evening.

The bank of the River Taedong facing the Party Founding Memorial Tower and the plaza of the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace, the venues of the firework galas, and other areas of Mangyongdae District and different parts of the capital city were crowded with Pyongyangites who came to watch the nocturnal sky in October to be beautifully decorated with fireworks.

Speeches were made by Kim Ki Nam and Choe Thae Bok, who are members of the Political Bureau and secretaries of the Central Committee of the WPK.

The speakers said that the firework galas would be a festival of glory in glorifying the long history and immortal exploits of the party and a grand canvas of victory stirring up the pride and self-esteem of the service persons and people of the DPRK working fresh miracles and exploits in the era of Songun as befitting the descendants of President Kim Il Sung.

They noted that the firework galas would be held by use of Korean style modern means for displaying fireworks developed in such a unique manner as to ensure formative artistic effect as required by the Korean people’s ideological and emotional desire and sentiment.

Fireworks were displayed in succession in the air over the Party Founding Memorial Tower and the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace, gorgeously adorning the nocturnal sky of the capital city while songs “Long Live the Workers’ Party of Korea” and “Under the Banner of the Party” reverberated far and wide.

The spectacular sceneries presented by fireworks in the sky represented the highest glory extended by all the servicepersons and people to General Secretary Kim Jong Il.

An endless fire went up depicting the logo of the WPK to the tune of songs including “We Sing of the Party” and “The Care of the Party Is the House We Live in,” “The Workers’ Party Is Our Guide”.

Fireworks were ceaselessly displayed in the sky presenting fantastic sceneries demonstrative of the high level of formative art, adding to the festive atmosphere.

Watching the firework galas were senior officials of the party, army and state, chairpersons of friendly parties, delegates participating in the national celebrations of the 65th birthday of the WPK, anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters, officials of the party, armed forces and power bodies and working people’s organizations, servicepersons of the Korean People’s Army and the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces, officials in the fields of science, education, culture and arts, public health and media, heroes and heroines, those related to the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle, bereaved families of the revolutionary martyrs, persons of merit and other working people.

Invited there were members of congratulatory groups of overseas compatriots, delegations and visiting groups of Koreans from different parts of the world including the congratulatory group of Koreans in Japan, the chief of the Pyongyang mission of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front, delegations and delegates of groups for the study of the Juche idea and diplomatic envoys of different countries, representatives of international organizations, members of the military attaches corps and other foreign guests here.

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Posted in Art, Civil society, CNC, Manufacturing | 2 Comments »

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