Since then Yakov Novichenko became a national hero of North Korea. He was awarded the title of Hero of Labor of the DPRK, a monument was erected in Pyongyang, and the feature film “A Second of Deed” was shot. His family still regularly travels to the DPRK, and Korean schoolchildren study the feat of the Soviet officer from textbooks.

A miraculous rescue happened on March 1, 1946. The platoon of junior lieutenant Novichenko was entrusted with guarding the government rostrum on the station square in Pyongyang. The military was brought in long before the meeting, and to pass the time, Yakov sat down on the steps to read - he just grabbed a book with him “ Brusilovsky breakthrough" Then he hid it, tucking it into his belt, and went to arrange people.

The rally has begun... Kim Il Sung He was saying something from the podium, there was a crowd of thousands of Koreans standing around, when suddenly a grenade flew out from somewhere in the front rows (the one who threw it was immediately grabbed and dragged away). It flew straight towards the podium, but bounced off it and fell next to Lieutenant Novichenko... Yakov bent down, grabbed the grenade with his hand, looked around... “Novichenko, throw it!” - someone shouted. Where should I throw it? People are all around... And Yakov fell to the ground, pressing his hand with a grenade to his stomach. Then there was an explosion, something bright slashed across his eyes... He didn’t remember anything else.

Junior Lieutenant Novichenko. Photo:

“Before us was a completely mutilated man, who had nothing alive left,” the person on duty at the hospital later wrote Major of the Medical Service Elizaveta Bogdanova. “The right arm was torn off, numerous injuries to the chest, the left eye was knocked out, and there were wounds in other parts of the body.” But he was alive! “Say thanks to the book - it saved you,” the hospital surgeon will tell him. “If it weren’t for her, no surgery would have been required.” If only you, a soldier, were in the next world.”

The lieutenant spent more than two months in the hospital. Every day he was sent flowers and fruits from Kim Il Sung, the leader’s adjutant gave him a silver cigarette case with the inscription: “To Hero Novichenko from Chairman Kim Il Sung.” And the division commander broke the news: “You have been nominated for the title of Hero Soviet Union!»

“We won’t call the talker”

After being discharged, Yakov returned to his native village of Travnoye Novosibirsk region. With an injured eye and no right hand. He had not been there for 8 long years, since he joined the army in 1938 - his wife was pregnant then. He served in the Far East, and then the Great Patriotic War began, and the soldier remained in service. Participated in the liberation of Korea, and then with the group Soviet troops arrived in Pyongyang. That’s how I ended up on the station square of the capital during that rally.

“Before, it seemed to me that a hero should look like a hero - stately, swift, fighting. But Yakov Novichenko did not look like my imagined image. He turned out to be a modest, gentle person, he recalls director of the film “A Second to Deed” Boris Krishtul(a film about Novichenko’s feat was shot in 1985 jointly by the USSR and the DPRK, but our filmmakers were not allowed to turn around; the film turned out to be too Korean and was not to the taste of Soviet citizens.

Wherein director Urazbaev famous for “Traffic Inspector”, performer of the role of Novichenko Andrey Martynov- the painting “...And the dawns here are quiet”, director Krishtul - “Crew”, etc. - Ed.). - When we met with Novichenko before filming, he told how at first his fellow villagers listened to his story about the rescue of Kim Il Sung. The whole village was waiting for the postman to bring a reward decree conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on their fellow countryman. But he was still not there... And over time, fellow villagers, who just yesterday considered it their duty to come up and say hello to Yakov, began to pass by or mockingly shout: “Why, hero, didn’t you put on a star?” They stopped inviting people to visit: “We won’t invite this talker.” And when they discussed the possible candidacy of Novichenko for the post of new chairman of the collective farm (there were few men left after the war), the secretary of the district committee said: “A person who has deceived once cannot be trusted.” This was the last straw... And Novichenko wrote a letter to the Ministry of Defense. There was no answer... But suddenly, in the fall of 1951, the postman brought a summons to the military registration and enlistment office. “Rewarded! - the news shook the village, but disappointment immediately came - not with the Hero’s star, but with the Order of the Red Banner of Battle. Most likely, the belated award was influenced by Kim Il Sung’s meeting with Stalin, to whom the Korean leader reminded how a Soviet officer saved his life. But Stalin refused to give the Hero. Since then, Yakov stopped hoping. It was then that his wife and children, and he had six of them, felt that he did not like to talk about the war. And if the word “grenade” was heard on the radio or TV, an awkward silence hung in the family, and its head went out onto the porch to smoke.”

"Stop the armored train, I'll get off"

“On a spring day in 1984, my grandfather was mowing the grass in the yard when they came to him and said: “Get ready for a meeting with Kim Il Sung.” Can you imagine how surprised he was? - says the granddaughter Lyudmila Novichenk O. - It turns out that the Korean leader was traveling on an armored train to Moscow and decided to stop in Novosibirsk to see his savior. KGB representatives found my grandfather and brought him to the station. They met, talked (the Korean leader spoke Russian well), and Kim Il Sung invited him, his wife and children to visit. Since then, every year our family has traveled to North Korea on the occasion of national holidays or anniversaries. Grandfather met with Kim Il Sung many times.

Yakov Novichenko on a trip to Korea. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Despite his wounds, grandfather was a strong and active man. I was rarely sick. Sometimes his hand ached because of the weather, but he didn’t complain. Always worked hard. He was the director of an incubator station, then the chairman of the village council, and in retirement led an active social life. And he was always a passionate bookworm, it was not in vain that it was the book that saved him from death - he read a lot fiction and the press, was aware of events in the country and the world. And he was very upset when he heard about the death of Kim Il Sung on July 8, 1994. And then he himself passed away exactly 5 months later, on December 8, 1994. Grandfather was then 80 years old. 20 years later, on his 100th birthday, the DPRK Ambassador to Russia personally came to Travnoye (which is 300 km from Novosibirsk!) to unveil a memorial plaque on a village house and erect a monument on his grave (after a meeting with the Korean leader in 1984 . the family was given an apartment in Novosibirsk, but they always spent the summer in the village - Ed.).

Memorial plaque on the house of Ya. T. Novichenko. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Our family still visits North Korea regularly. Now grandchildren and even great-grandchildren are coming, who did not find their grandfather alive. IN last time were in April this year, on the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung. When we are asked about the politics of the DPRK, their bombs and nuclear threats, we always say: “Our family is beyond politics.” This is true. We are simple people living in the outback of Russia. And our grandfather was a simple village worker. Where is he and where is Kim Il Sung? But we are very grateful to the Korean leader for not forgetting the deed of our grandfather. It’s good that, even after 38 long years, the truth was revealed during my grandfather’s lifetime. At least he could prove that he didn't deceive anyone. It was very important to him."

North Korea- a young state that appeared on the map only 70 years ago. The tragic events of history led to its formation, and the recognizable appearance of the reclusive country and the stronghold of victorious communism would not have existed without Kim Il Sung, the founder and eternal president of the state.

In the DPRK, he is called the Sun of the Nation and is literally deified, and his birthday, which falls on April 15, is considered the country's main holiday.

Rise to Fame

It is not always easy to separate true and fictitious facts in the biography of Kim Il Sung - they have been changed so many times to suit ideology that they remain accessible only in general terms. It is known that Kim Il Sung was born into a poor family of a school teacher and the daughter of a Protestant minister in 1912. It is officially believed that his parents led a small detachment during the anti-Japanese movement, but surviving documents say that their services in the guerrilla struggle were insignificant. When Kim Il Sung (whose real name was Kim Song Ju) was eight years old, the family moved to China. There he mastered new language

, received an education - including an ideological one - and became interested in the fight against the Japanese, who occupied his homeland.

Already at the age of twenty, he became the leader of a small partisan detachment that operated on the border of China and Korea.

In 1937, a detachment led by Kim defeated a Japanese gendarme post in the city of Pochonbo. The attack was sudden, not very brilliant, but still historic: the small victory was the first in the anti-Japanese struggle won in occupied Korea. She glorified Kim Il Sung as a commander and opened the way for him to the military career ladder. In 1940, representatives of the partisan movement were invited to the Soviet Union to discuss further joint actions. So Kim Il Sung ended up on Russia, with which significant events of his life will be connected. One of them was service in the Red Army, which opened the way to political activity.

His good reputation allowed him to lead combat operations in Manchuria and Korea. Gradually he became the most influential person in the country's communist branch.

The Soviet Union developed a plan to fight Japan, but did not have to implement it: the country capitulated a week after the fall atomic bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Liberated Korea did not enjoy independence for long: it suffered the fate of defeated Germany and division into two parts.


Kim Il Sung, who had gained a reputation as a reliable and ideological man, came to power with the support of the Soviet Union and China. He led the newly formed state, and in 1950, the Korean War was launched under his command.

Despite the huge losses, neither side changed its position much, and three years later the countries signed a truce (which has since not turned into a full-fledged peace).

North Korea, Leader and Juche

Until the early 60s, the DPRK made economic and industrial successes - it was supported and sponsored by the powerful powers of the communist system. However, after the outbreak of the Sino-Soviet conflict, the country led by Kim Il Sung found itself in a difficult situation. The manager needed to choose a course that would preserve the relationship with both parties. However, it was difficult to maintain balance.


Gradually, Kim Il Sung leaned toward cooperation with China: the countries shared common cultural roots and a long history.

In addition, de-Stalinization began in the Soviet Union, which the DPRK government sharply condemned. Later, a similar situation arose with “ cultural revolution” in China, and the disagreements led to a cooling of relations between the countries. And with it came the depletion of financial flows coming from abroad.

To keep the shaky economy afloat, Kim Il Sung took a tough course of rule. A wave of repressions and arrests swept across the country, market relations and private farming were prohibited as a relic of the feudal past. This led to stagnation in the economy and industry, while the country firmly set itself on totalitarian tracks.


To justify the need for such harsh measures, Kim Il Sung developed the Juche ideology, a national Korean version of communism that sought to get rid of the influence of Marxist-Leninist ideology.

The government did main idea about self-reliance - without the support of other countries there was simply no choice. By the beginning of the 70s, the state was already plunging into stagnation economic policy and is entering an era of crisis.

At the same time, Kim Il Sung is promoting the idea of ​​transferring power to his son, Kim Jong Il. A number of political figures opposed the establishment of a communist monarchy in the country, but discontent was quickly stifled - and by far from democratic methods.


Cult of personality

To maintain power with an unpopular policy, Kim Il Sung chose the method of self-praise, tested in China and the USSR. With the help of widespread propaganda, the ruler was turned from an ordinary person into a chosen one, a messenger from heaven and the savior of the nation.

The extent to which Kim Il Sung’s praises reached can be judged by the titles that were attributed to him: the Sun of the Nation, the Great All-Conquering Commander, the Pledge of the Liberation of Humanity.

Statues were erected in the country that depicted the leader; in cinema, literature and songs, the mention and glorification of the name of Kim Il Sung became mandatory. National holidays were not complete without honorary marches and the laying of flowers at monuments. Since the 70s, every adult resident of the country was required to wear a badge with a portrait of the Leader.

Kim Il Sung died in 1994 from a sudden heart attack. Like leaders in other communist countries, he was not buried, but his body was embalmed and placed in the Geumsuan Memorial Palace, which during his lifetime was the seat of government. A visit to the mausoleum is the responsibility of not only every resident of Pyongyang, but also a part of the excursion tour for foreigners, no exceptions.

Personal life

According to one version, Kim Il Sung was married twice, according to another - three times. There are discrepancies regarding the first wife even during the partisan movement. According to one version, a girl named Kim Hyo Sun was not only the wife, but also a comrade in arms of Kim Il Sung. She was captured by the Japanese, interrogated and executed. However, biographers have disagreements on this matter.

Kim Il Sung's second (or first) official wife was Kim Jong Suk, who participated with him in political and military affairs.

She accompanied her husband and resignedly endured all the hardships of partisan life. For this, in ideology, she was made a role model for every woman in North Korea.


Three children were born in the marriage - the first was a son and subsequently heir Kim Il Sung, then two daughters were born. During her third birth, Kim Jong Suk died at the age of 31. It is believed that Kim Il Sung loved her all his life and the last thing he did before his death was to look from the window of the Kumsuan Palace at her grave. 15 years after the death of Kim Jong Suk, he married again. Little is known about this woman: according to one version, she was a secretary at the director’s headquarters.

Today we will take the first big tour of Pyongyang, and we will start with the holy of holies - the mausoleum of Comrade Kim Il Sung and Comrade Kim Jong Il. The mausoleum is located in the Kumsusan Palace, where Kim Il Sung once worked and which, after the death of the leader in 1994, was turned into a huge pantheon of memory. After the death of Kim Jong Il in 2011, his body was also placed in the Kumsusan Palace.

A trip to the mausoleum is a sacred ceremony in the life of any North Korean worker. Mostly people go there in organized groups - entire organizations, collective farms, military units, student classes. At the entrance to the pantheon, hundreds of groups anxiously await their turn. Foreign tourists are allowed to enter the mausoleum on Thursdays and Sundays - the guides also put foreigners in a reverent and solemn mood and warn about the need to dress as formally as possible. Our group, however, for the most part ignored this warning - well, we don’t have anything better than jeans and a shirt on our trip (I must say that in the DPRK they really don’t like jeans, considering them “American clothes”). But nothing - they let me in, naturally. But many other foreigners whom we saw in the mausoleum (Australians, Western Europeans), playing the role to the fullest, dressed very formally - lush funeral dresses, tuxedos with a bow tie...

You cannot take photographs inside the mausoleum and at all approaches to it - so I will try to simply describe what is happening inside. First, tourists wait in line in a small waiting pavilion for foreigners, then go to the common area, where they mingle with North Korean groups. At the entrance to the mausoleum itself, you need to hand over your phones and cameras, a very thorough search - you can only take heart medicine with you if in the state rooms with the leaders someone suddenly becomes ill from awe. And then we ride on a horizontal escalator along a long, very long corridor, the marble walls of which are hung with photographs of both leaders in all their greatness and heroism - photographs are interspersed different years, from the young revolutionary times of Comrade Kim Il Sung to recent years the reign of his son Comrade Kim Jong Il. On one of the places of honor near the end of the corridor, a photograph of Kim Jong Il was seen in Moscow at a meeting with the then very youthful Russian President, made in 2001, I think. This pompous long, very long corridor with huge portraits, along which the escalator travels for about 10 minutes, willy-nilly sets the mood for some kind of solemn mood. Even foreigners from another world are attuned - what to say about those who tremble local residents, for whom Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are gods.

From the inside, the Kumsusan Palace is divided into two halves - one is dedicated to Comrade Kim Il Sung, the other to Comrade Kim Jong Il. Huge marble halls decorated with gold, silver and jewelry, pompous corridors. The luxury and pomp of all this is quite difficult to describe. The bodies of the leaders lie in two huge, darkened marble halls, at the entrance to which you pass through another inspection line, where you are driven through streams of air in order to blow away the last specks of dust from the common people of this world before visiting the main sacred halls. Four people plus a guide approach directly to the bodies of the leaders - we go around the circle and bow. You need to bow to the floor when you are in front of the leader, as well as to the left and right - when you are behind the head of the leader, you do not need to bow. On Thursday and Sunday, foreign groups also come along with ordinary Korean workers - it is interesting to watch the reaction of North Koreans to the bodies of the leaders. Everyone is in the brightest ceremonial attire - peasants, workers, a lot of military men in uniform. Almost all women cry and wipe their eyes with handkerchiefs, men also often cry - the tears of young, thin village soldiers are especially striking. Many people experience hysterics in mourning halls... People cry touchingly and sincerely - however, they are brought up with this from birth.

After the halls where the bodies of the leaders are buried, the groups go through other halls of the palace and get acquainted with the awards - one hall is dedicated to the awards of Comrade Kim Il Sung, and the other to the awards of Comrade Kim Jong Il. Also shown are the personal belongings of the leaders, their cars, as well as two famous railway cars in which Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il traveled around the world, respectively. Separately, it is worth noting the Hall of Tears - the most pompous hall where the nation said goodbye to its leaders.

On way back We again drove for about 10 minutes along this long, long corridor with portraits - it so happened that several foreign groups were driving us in a row, and towards the leaders, on another escalator, already sobbing and nervously fiddling with their handkerchiefs, were only Koreans - collective farmers, workers, military... Hundreds of people rushed in front of us, going to the long-awaited meeting with the leaders. It was a meeting of two worlds - we looked at them, and they looked at us. I was very amazed by those minutes on the escalator. I slightly disturbed the chronological order here, because the day before we had already thoroughly traveled around the regions of the DPRK and got an idea about them - so I will give here what I wrote in the travel notebook upon leaving the mausoleum. “For them these are Gods. And this is the ideology of the country. At the same time, there is poverty in the country, denunciations, people are nothing. Taking into account the fact that almost everyone serves in the army for at least 5-7 years, and soldiers in the DPRK manually perform the most difficult work, including almost 100% of national construction, we can say that this is a slave-owning system, free labor. At the same time, the ideology presents that “the army helps the country, and we need even stricter discipline in the army and in the country in general to move towards a bright future”... And the country is on average at the level of the 1950s... But what palaces of the leaders! This is how to zombify society! After all, they, not knowing otherwise, really love them, they, if necessary, are ready to kill for Kim Il Sung and are ready to die themselves. Of course, it’s great to love your Motherland, to be a patriot of your country, you can also have a good or bad attitude towards this or that political figure. But how all this happens here is beyond the comprehension of modern man!”

You can take photographs in the square in front of the Kumsusan Palace - it is especially interesting to photograph people.

1. Women in ceremonial costumes go to the mausoleum.

2. Sculptural composition near the left wing of the palace.

4. Group photography with the mausoleum in the background.

5. Some take pictures, others impatiently wait for their turn.

6. I also took a photo for memory.

7. Pioneer bow to the leaders.

8. Peasants in ceremonial clothes wait in line at the entrance to the mausoleum.

9. Almost 100% of the male population of the DPRK is subject to military conscription for 5-7 years. At the same time, military personnel perform not only military work, but also general civilian work - they build everywhere, plow fields with oxen, work on collective and state farms. Women serve for one year and on a voluntary basis - naturally, there are many volunteers.

10. The front facade of the Kumsusan Palace.

11. The next stop is a memorial to the heroes of the struggle for liberation from Japan. Heavy rain…

14. The graves of the fallen stand on the mountainside in a checkerboard pattern so that everyone buried here can see the panorama of Pyongyang from the top of Taesong Mountain.

15. The central place of the memorial is occupied by the revolutionary Kim Jong Suk, glorified in the DPRK - the first wife of Kim Il Sung, the mother of Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Suk died in 1949 at the age of 31 during her second birth.

16. After visiting the memorial, we will head to the suburbs of Pyongyang, the village of Mangyongdae, where Comrade Kim Il Sung was born and where for a long time until now post-war years his grandparents lived. This is one of the most sacred places in the DPRK.

19. A tragicomic story happened with this pot, crumpled during smelting - not realizing all its holiness, one of our tourists tapped it with his finger. And our guide Kim did not have time to warn that touching anything here is strictly prohibited. One of the memorial employees noticed this and called someone. A minute later, our Kim’s phone rang - the guide was called somewhere for work. We walked around the park for about forty minutes, accompanied by a driver and a second guide, a young guy who didn’t speak Russian. When it became really worrying about Kim, she finally appeared - upset and tearful. When asked what would happen to her now, she smiled sadly and quietly said, “What’s the difference?”... She felt so sorry for her at that moment...

20. While our guide Kim was at work, we walked a little in the park surrounding Mangyongdae. This mosaic panel depicts young Comrade Kim Il Sung leaving native home and leaving the country to fight the Japanese militarists who occupied Korea. And his grandparents saw him off in his native Mangyongdae.

21. The next item on the program is a monument Soviet soldiers, who took part in the liberation of Korea from Japan at the very end of World War II.

23. Behind the memorial to our soldiers, a huge park begins, stretching along the hills along the river for several kilometers. In one of the cozy green corners, a rare ancient monument was discovered - there are few historical monuments in Pyongyang, since the city suffered greatly during the Korean War of 1950-1953.

24. From the hill there is a beautiful view of the river - how familiar these wide avenues and panel buildings of high-rise buildings seem. But how surprisingly few cars there are!

25. The newest bridge over the Taedong River is the last of five bridges included in the post-war master plan for the development of Pyongyang. It was built in the 1990s.

26. Not far from the cable-stayed bridge is the largest May Day Stadium in the DPRK with a capacity of 150,000, where major sporting competitions are held and the famous Arirang festival is held.

27. Just a couple of hours ago, I left the mausoleum slightly in a negative mood, which intensified after the higher authorities got into trouble because of some pot of our unfortunate escort. But as soon as you walk around the park, look at the people, your mood changes. Children play in a cozy park...

28. A middle-aged intellectual, secluded on a Sunday afternoon in the shade, studies the works of Kim Il Sung...

29. Does it remind you of anything? :)

30. Today is Sunday - and the city park is full of vacationers. People play volleyball, just sit on the grass...

31. And the hottest thing on Sunday afternoon was on the open dance floor - both local youth and older Korean workers were having a blast. How brilliantly they performed their bizarre movements!

33. This little guy danced the best.

34. We also joined the dancers for about 10 minutes - and they happily accepted us. This is what an alien guest looks like at a disco in North Korea! :)

35. After a walk through the park, we will return to the center of Pyongyang. From the observation deck of the Juche Idea Monument (remember, which glows in the night and which I photographed from the hotel window) there are wonderful views of Pyongyang. Let's enjoy the panorama! So, a socialist city as it is! :)

37. Much is already familiar - for example, central Library named after Comrade Kim Il Sung.

39. Cable-stayed bridge and stadium.

41. Incredible impressions - quite our Soviet landscapes. Tall buildings, wide streets and avenues. But how few people are on the streets. And almost no cars! It’s as if, thanks to a time machine, we were transported 30-40 years ago!

42. A new super hotel for foreign tourists and high-ranking guests is being completed.

43. "Ostankino" tower.

44. The most comfortable five-star hotel in Pyongyang - naturally, for foreigners.

45. And this is our hotel “Yangakdo” - four stars. I look now - how reminiscent it is of the high-rise building of the Moscow Design Institute where I work! :))))

46. ​​At the foot of the monument to the Juche Ideas there are sculptural compositions of workers.

48. In the 36th photo you may have noticed an interesting monument. This is the Workers' Party of Korea Monument. The dominant feature of the sculptural composition is the sickle, hammer and brush. Everything is more or less clear with the hammer and sickle, but the brush in North Korea symbolizes the intelligentsia.

50. Inside the composition there is a panel, in the central part of which the “progressive socialist world masses” are shown, who are fighting against the “bourgeois puppet government of South Korea” and are moving the “occupied southern territories torn apart by class struggle” towards socialism and inevitable unification with the DPRK.

51. These are the South Korean masses.

52. This is the progressive intelligentsia of South Korea.

53. This appears to be an episode of ongoing armed struggle.

54. A gray-haired veteran and a young pioneer.

55. Sickle, hammer and brush - collective farmer, worker and intellectual.

56. In conclusion of today’s post, I would like to give some more scattered photographs of Pyongyang, taken while moving around the city. Facades, episodes, artifacts. Let's start from Pyongyang Station. By the way, Moscow and Pyongyang are still connected by rail (as I understand, several trailer cars for the Beijing train). But to take a ride from Moscow to the DPRK railway Russian tourists cannot - these carriages are intended only for North Korean residents working with us.

61. "South-Western"? "Vernadsky avenue"? “Strogino?” Or is it Pyongyang? :))))

62. But this is a really rare trolleybus!

63. Black Volga against the background of the Museum of the Patriotic Liberation War. There is a lot of our automobile industry in the DPRK - Volgas, military and civilian UAZs, S7s, MAZs, several years ago the DPRK bought a large batch of Gazelles and Priors from Russia. But, unlike the Soviet automobile industry, they are unhappy with them.

64. Another photo of the “dormitory” area.

65. In the previous photo you can see the agitator machine. Here it is larger - such cars constantly drive through the cities and towns of North Korea, slogans, speeches and appeals, or simply revolutionary music or marches, sound from morning to evening. Propaganda machines are designed to encourage the working people and inspire them to work even harder for the benefit of a brighter future.

66. And again the quarters of a socialist city.

67. Simple Soviet “Maz”...

68. ...And a tram from fraternal Czechoslovakia.

69. Final photos - Arc de Triomphe in honor of the victory over Japan.

70. And this stadium very much reminded me of our Moscow Dynamo stadium. Back in the forties, when he was still brand new.

North Korea leaves ambiguous, very mixed feelings. And they accompany you constantly while you are here. I will return to walks around Pyongyang, and next time we will talk about a trip to the north of the country, to the Myohan Mountains, where we will see several ancient monasteries, visit the museum of gifts to Comrade Kim Il Sung, and visit the Renmun Cave with stalactites, stalagmites and a group of military men in one of the dungeons - and also just look at the unostentatious life of the DPRK outside the capital.

On Saturday, April 15, residents of the DPRK celebrate the main Public Holiday- Kim Il Sung's birthday, also known as the Day of the Sun. According to the North Korean constitution, Kim Il Sung is considered the "eternal president" of the people's republic. After his sudden death in 1994, mourning was declared in the country, which lasted three years. In honor of the Great Leader, who remains eternally alive in the minds of many Koreans, Pyongyang has a central square, a football stadium, a main university, as well as many streets and countless objects in other cities of the DPRK. But, perhaps, the main reminder that Comrade Kim is “more alive than all living” is the state ideology of Juche (self-reliance) developed by the “eternal president,” which is still the cornerstone of the North Korean state.

Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju) was born on April 15, 1912. It is from this date that the chronology of the DPRK begins, according to the “Juche calendar”. Ir Sen is not his real name, but the revolutionary pseudonym of the leader, which translates as " Rising Sun"(hence the name of the holiday). In general, Kim Il Sung had many pompous titles: Great Chief, Sun of the nation, Iron all-conquering commander, Marshal of the mighty republic, Pledge of the liberation of mankind, etc. He began calling himself Kim Il Sung in 1932, after he became the commander of one of the Chinese partisan detachments who fought against the Japanese occupiers. He soon became one of the main leaders of the resistance.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed as an independent state in 1948 after Korea, liberated from the Japanese, was divided into two parts along the 38th parallel. The communist regime led by Kim Il Sung established itself in the north, while the south was ruled by the American protege Syngman Rhee. But while the latter led the country for only 12 years, Kim remained at the helm for 46 years, forming a cult of personality around himself. His central role in the state was enshrined in the new and current constitution of 1972, in the preamble of which Kim Il Sung is called the founder of the DPRK, the Sun of the nation, the torch of the unification of the motherland, who “has unfading merits in realizing the independence of mankind.”

Another “brace” for the North Koreans was the idea of ​​​​Juche, developed by Kim Il Sung - a policy that involves the solution of all internal problems exclusively on our own. The slogan, which arose in the late 1950s, subsequently became the state ideology, replacing Marxism-Leninism. In 1982, in honor of Kim Il Sung's 70th birthday, the Juche Idea Monument was erected in Pyongyang. In the same year, a Triumphal Arch, on the bas-relief of which the Song of the commander Kim Il Sung is carved. However, by that time it was hardly possible to find any large monument or building in the country that was not associated with the name of the leader.

From a public point of view, North Korea under Kim Il Sung was a state with virtually no civil liberties, severe censorship and severed international ties. At the same time, strict totalitarian control over public life operated in the country. After the collapse of the socialist camp, many predicted the imminent fall of the Kim Il Sung regime, but he survived, despite the most difficult economic situation in the country.

Kim Il Sung (Kor. 김일성, according to Kontsevich - Kim Ilson, born Kim Song Ju, April 15, 1912, Mangyongdae - July 8, 1994, Pyongyang) the founder of the North Korean state and its first ruler from 1948 to 1994 (head of state since 1972). Developed the Korean version of Marxism - Juche.

There is little accurate information about Kim Il Sung, and all because of the secrecy surrounding his biography. His name is not what he was given at birth. Kim Il Sung was born in 1912 in one of the suburbs of Pyongyang. The family moved to Manchuria in 1925 to escape the Japanese occupiers. In Manchuria, Kim Il Sung became a member Communist Party in 1931. The military authorities from the Soviet Union drew attention to him. There was a second one World War, and Kim Il Sung lived in the USSR. He claimed to have fought in the Red Army. Most likely, he was involved in politics rather than fighting. He adopted the pseudonym Kim Il Sung, in honor of the famous Korean patriot who died fighting the Japanese.

The Second World War is over. US troops occupied the South of Korea, and the USSR occupied the North. They announced that they would single state. Meanwhile, Kim Il Sung and other communists from Korea returned from the USSR to their homeland to lead the country. Many Koreans have heard a lot about Kim Il Sung. They waited for his return, but what they saw was a young “new Kim,” not a war veteran. It is not known for sure whether this misunderstanding was resolved. In 1948, the Korean occupation of the USSR ended. Kim Il Sung concentrated power over North Korea in his hands. He became the prime minister of the DPRK. The USA and USSR were never able to unite Korea peacefully. Kim Il Sung took advantage of the USSR's support and opportunity, and therefore invaded South Korea to forcefully annex it to the North. Resistance was weak, even after additional UN forces arrived. However, Kim Il Sung's army was unable to cope with Douglas MacArthur's army, which landed at Inchon. Kim Il Sung's troops were defeated and retreated. The war lasted for another two years in the area of ​​the 38th parallel.

In 1953, the long-awaited peace was signed. For just over forty years now, the troops of the South and the North have been taking positions opposite each other along the demarcation line, which runs along the 38th parallel. After the truce, Kim Il Sung was still able to strengthen his power. In 1956, the last opposition forces within the country were suppressed. In 1972, he became president, while he retained full military and civilian power. Time passed, and the DPRK moved away from both China and the USSR. Kim Il Sung planted a cult of his personality in the country. His country lagged behind its southern neighbors in development. Quite often, Kim Il Sung had difficulties supplying the country with food. In the 1980s, Kim Il Sung's son became his father's successor. In 1994, Kim Il Sung died, and power was concentrated in the hands of Kim Jong Il. Kim Il Sung was far from a great leader and commander; he depended on China and the Soviet Union. However, we must remember that North Korea is hostile towards South Korea, Japan, the USA, and the regime established in the country by Kim Il Sung still exists.