Day 7 - d) Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum and War Victory Monuments

Friday September 10, 2010

After lunch we headed to the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum. Fatherland Liberation War is what North Koreans call the Korean War. The South call it 6/25, named after the date (in a similar way Americans refer to 9/11) of the invasion by the northern military.

North Korea's propaganda stance is that the war was started by the United States under the guise of the United Nations, in order to colonise the entire peninsula. Therefore the Northern military was trying to "liberate" its southern brothers from its oppressors. To this day North Korea considers South Korea as effectively a colony of the United States.

The first part took visitors through each of the stages of the war, with rooms filled with battle exhibits as well as citizens and newspapers celebrating liberation of their region. Obviously the North Korean narrative differs greatly from what the outside world knows as facts, for example:

• The United States started the war by invading the North. (In fact Kim Il Sung invaded the south to begin the conflict after finally receiving the green light from Joseph Stalin, after three years of rejection.)
• The counter-attack by the North Korean army back to the 38th parallel after almost being repelled to China was due to the great military genius of Kim Il Sung. (In fact the Chinese army took over operations.)

After the historical displays we were taken to the basement levels where captured enemy hardware were on shown off as trophies (and evidence of US aggression). It included many United States airplanes, arms, military uniforms, and signed admissions of guilt.

Museum guide showing us some of the American arms captured during the war.

 The third dimension of the museum were "panorama" exhibits, which were models and recreations of battle scenes accompanied by lighting, sound effects, and commentary. The major one we were shown at the end of the tour was particularly impressive - it was a 360 degree circular display with the visitors on a rotating platform in the middle.

Museum guide at the 360 degree panorama, created by the best North Korean artists.

Many of the tour members seemed to be enamoured with the museum guide, who spoke fluent English. She was a genuine member of the military and had only been in this guide job for a couple of months. Michael even bought her a box of chocolates at the end of the tour.

After the museum we took a short drive to the outdoor War Victory Monuments site, where there were massive statues dedicated to the Fatherland Liberation War.

Me in front of one of the War Victory Monuments.