I'd been in DPRK for less than twenty-four hours and seen only three things, the Study House, the Folk Museum and a stamp shop. One thing was already clear. I'd be seeing a lot of portraits and statues of the Great Leader and his son, the current ruler, Kim Jong Il the Dear Leader. As we stood on the steps outside the War Museum I was willing to bet that as soon as we entered there would be another one.
We waited for the group to gather properly - the lunchtime restaurant being just across the street - under the watchful eyes of our guides. One of our guides asked us what news we had of the DPRK in the outside world. It was a tricky moment. The three pieces of news we had were that they had launched what was either a communications satellite or a missile, that they had arrested and condemned to ten years hard labour two American journalists and that they had expelled the United Nations inspectors. I told her that some newspapers had reported a satellite launch but others said it was a missile. Another member of the group maintained that it was a missile and that it had fallen into the sea. She was clearly offended. Subsequent western reports seemed to confirm that it was a satellite after all. With regard to the journalists and the inspectors neither she nor her male counterpart, when I spoke to him later, seemed to have any knowledge of either incident.
We went inside and sure enough the entire wall of the large hall was taken up with a mural of the Great Leader surrounded by victorious soldiers, happy smiling children and loyal workers. No surprise there then.
Also no surprise was the version of history presented to us over the next couple of hours. Roughly speaking it went like this. After years of colonial rule by the Japanese the Great Leader had led a revolution that had overthrown them (no mention being made of the World War taking place elsewhere.) America had then divided the country and placed a puppet Government in power in the south. Over the next several years tensions increased with the DPRK stoically resisting all the frequent cross-border incursions from the South without making any retaliation. Eventually the South mounted a sustained conflict which had to be met and the North crossed the border to fight on 25th June 1950. The Americans were outgunned and outclassed by the heroic DPRK forces and eventually, in 1953 were forced into an ignominious armistice which shamed them even though they still would not admit that they were defeated. In spite of this glorious victory the Americans managed to keep the country divided by suppressing the desires of the South Korean people to unify with their northern brothers. The North has subsequently spent decades on trying to offer plans for peace and reconciliation which would have been successful if not for the Machiavellian schemes of the United States.
We saw displays outlining the course of the war, from the DPRK perspective, displays of weapons - both those of the DPRK soldiers and those captured from the enemy. We saw rooms full of the twisted, wreckage of destroyed helicopters, tanks and aircraft. We saw recreations of the command centres and the underground tunnels from which they engaged the enemy.
Most impressive were the dioramas though of the eighteen that are in the museum we saw only two. One of these though was as impressive as anything that I have ever seen in a museum. A huge room has been used to create a three hundred and sixty degree vision of one of the famous battles of the war. The tricks of perspective used in the model and the stunning painting give it a remarkable realism. On my photographs it looks dull, lifeless and flat but the reality is different.
It was interesting to hear such a wildly different version of history and, frankly, the generally accepted version probably contains its fair share of inaccuracies, deceptions and downright lies. Hiram Johnson is generally credited as the source of the aphorism "the first casualty of war is truth". Whoever said it, it remains just as true whether you are on the winning side or the losing side.
We went inside and sure enough the entire wall of the large hall was taken up with a mural of the Great Leader surrounded by victorious soldiers, happy smiling children and loyal workers. No surprise there then.
Also no surprise was the version of history presented to us over the next couple of hours. Roughly speaking it went like this. After years of colonial rule by the Japanese the Great Leader had led a revolution that had overthrown them (no mention being made of the World War taking place elsewhere.) America had then divided the country and placed a puppet Government in power in the south. Over the next several years tensions increased with the DPRK stoically resisting all the frequent cross-border incursions from the South without making any retaliation. Eventually the South mounted a sustained conflict which had to be met and the North crossed the border to fight on 25th June 1950. The Americans were outgunned and outclassed by the heroic DPRK forces and eventually, in 1953 were forced into an ignominious armistice which shamed them even though they still would not admit that they were defeated. In spite of this glorious victory the Americans managed to keep the country divided by suppressing the desires of the South Korean people to unify with their northern brothers. The North has subsequently spent decades on trying to offer plans for peace and reconciliation which would have been successful if not for the Machiavellian schemes of the United States.
We saw displays outlining the course of the war, from the DPRK perspective, displays of weapons - both those of the DPRK soldiers and those captured from the enemy. We saw rooms full of the twisted, wreckage of destroyed helicopters, tanks and aircraft. We saw recreations of the command centres and the underground tunnels from which they engaged the enemy.
Most impressive were the dioramas though of the eighteen that are in the museum we saw only two. One of these though was as impressive as anything that I have ever seen in a museum. A huge room has been used to create a three hundred and sixty degree vision of one of the famous battles of the war. The tricks of perspective used in the model and the stunning painting give it a remarkable realism. On my photographs it looks dull, lifeless and flat but the reality is different.
It was interesting to hear such a wildly different version of history and, frankly, the generally accepted version probably contains its fair share of inaccuracies, deceptions and downright lies. Hiram Johnson is generally credited as the source of the aphorism "the first casualty of war is truth". Whoever said it, it remains just as true whether you are on the winning side or the losing side.
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