18 September 2003
The Times
The embalmed body of Kim Il Sung still oppresses
the country nearly ten years after his death, Oliver
August reports from Pyongyang
INVITATIONS to visit North Korea are
rare enough, but even the few Westerners who make
it are not often granted access to see the waxen
body of the man they call the "Great Leader".
Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994, is
still the head of state as "president in eternity".
His followers continue to shower him with gifts
and worship his embalmed body at a mausoleum bigger
than Buckingham Palace.
Having visited the fascinating, and
publicly accessible, mausoleums of Mao, Lenin and
Ho Chi Minh, I was delighted and disconcerted to
be asked by Pyongyang to pay my respects to the
late Mr Kim on the 55th anniversary of the founding
of North Korea.
Parking at a vast plaza a mile away
from the grey sandstone mausoleum surrounded by
a moat and guarded by soldiers with bayonets fixed,
we stepped on to a moving walkway and levitated
slowly towards a portrait of the "Great Leader"
hung above the palace entrance. Walking was prohibited
on the conveyor belt to the netherworld.
Misty, cavernous halls led to a 2ft-wide
passage that appeared to be a full body hairdryer.
A dozen little jets brushed off dust or insects
before we entered the inner sanctum, a cathedral-like
space with high ceilings and hymns in the air.
In groups of four we approached the man who had
started the murderous Korean War and we were expected
to bow deeply. I tried to get away with a nod that
was more sideways than forwards. I wondered, too
late, if I should have mumbled an archaic curse
at the same time to offset any reverence shown.
We then walked around the shiny body, lit up by
red spotlights; similar to Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi,
but in better shape than the other communist founding
fathers.
On the way out we passed a quivering
Korean woman standing next to the last Mercedes
owned by the "Great Leader", an armoured
600SL with a 12-cyclinder injection engine. She
listed his achievements and, in floods of tears,
recounted how he had lain in state for ten days
here in his old palace.
Later my minders took me to an underground
museum that shows off the gifts that Kim Il Sung
received in his lifetime and beyond. About 70 miles
outside Pyongyang in the mountains, 200 caves had
been dug, guarded by soldiers with silver Kalashnikovs.
To see all 217,444 gifts from 178
countries given to the "Great Leader"
since 1945 and the 51,518 gifts from 161 countries
for the "Dear Leader," his son who is
now minding the shop, would take more than a year
if restricted to a quick peek. That, however, would
not really do justice to the world's greatest collection
of kitsch.
And by the time we had finished there
had to be a whole lot more: a digital counter by
the entrance keeps tally of gifts still flooding
in.
The world's left-wing revolutionaries
are among the most and the least generous givers.
Stalin donated an entire train, which now rests
in its own cave. Mao sent two hats. Arthur Scargill
and some Labour MPs gave a brass plate. In the UK
section, there are also gifts from Abbey Publishing,
Deepwood Mining and several smaller insurance companies,
as well as a House of Commons glass from "Global
Connection Consultancy". A cheeky German writer
sent a piece of the Berlin Wall. A Korean-American
businessman offered a mug from the Abba-based musical
Mamma Mia.
Madeleine Albright, the US Secretary
of State, gave a basketball on her historic 2000
visit, Jimmy Carter, the former US President, a
bowl that looks like an ashtray. The Chinese Government
thoughtfully sent a life-size wax figure of Kim
Il Sung lest future generations forget what the
museum's landlord looks like. An unnamed permanent
under-secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office donated a book about Britain in 2001. He
probably knew how embarrassing gifts to dictators
can turn out to be.
The piece de resistance, displayed
alongside a statue of the "Great Leader",
came from Nicaragua's Sandinistas: a stuffed 4ft
crocodile standing on its hind legs and holding
a drinks tray of glasses.
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2003
