KIM IL-SUNG SQUARE

Symbolic place in North Korea, Kim Il-Sung Square is quite familiar to foreigners who have seen it on television on the occasion of major military parades. It was built in 1954 especially to accommodate military parades and mass shows. The staging is grandiose: each building displays portraits of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il (during the Soviet era were also representations of Karl Marx and Lenin), or propaganda messages or images. The national flag is omnipresent on the buildings. If you look down, you will be able to see white dots and indications that are painted on the ground: each point is occupied by a person during mass demonstrations. The number and the approximation of these marks give an idea of the number of people that are needed to fill Kim Il-Sung Square, about 100 000. If one imagines it ever greater because of the misleading prospects of the cameras, it still spreads over nearly 75 000 m2: it is the third largest public square in the world (at least, according to the North Koreans). Built along Taedong River, it is designed on the model of Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The Grande Maison des Études du Peuple (the National Library) is now built in the same place where the Forbidden City was. On the left side when facing the River, on the shore, you will see the Central Museum of Korean History and the headquarters of the Korean Workers ' Party with a portrait of Kim Il-Sung. On the other side, there are the Korean Art Gallery on the river side and the Ministry of foreign trade on the library side. One can see the Juche Tower which seems to be at the end of the square, while it is actually on the other Bank of Taedong River.

In 2018, as it is the case every year, will take place an anti-American mass protest in the presence of more than 100 000 demonstrators (this was the case in 2017). Following the Singapore summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-UN, the event was cancelled as part of the anti-US propaganda moderation program.