The Museum, which was built in a traditional style, opened in August 1978. With an area of 28 000 to 70 000 m2 (depending on different opinions), it contains more than 150 rooms that are divided into three separate and very secure buildings. According to a local legend, Kim Jong-Il would have built the museum in three days (in fact the construction took a little over a year...). The architecture of the building, which looks like the library of Pyongyang, is misleading: visitors may believe that they are seeing windows but infact there is none. The Museum hosts gifts offered to former North Korean leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il by various foreign dignitaries. At the present time, the number of gifts exhibited varies between 60 000 and 220 000.

Most of the gifts come from communist nations or of similar ideology. Here are some examples:

A bear’s head from Nicolae Ceaușescu.

A metal horseman and chess-adorned from the former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Fidel Castro's crocodile case.

A silver sword encrusted with gems and a miniature mother-of-Pearl mosque from former Palestinian Chief Yasser Arafat.

An ancient Gramophone from the Prime Minister of the people's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai, and an armoured train from President Mao Zedong (the entire wings of the Museum are dedicated to the gifts from China).

An ivory lion from Tanzania, a gold cigarette case of Communist Yugoslavia.

A Soviet bronze tank of East Germany, silver chopsticks from Communist Mongolia.

A basketball signed by Michael Jordan from the former Secretary of State of the United States Madeleine Albright.

An armored limousine from former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

A VHS cassette from animated film Space Jam in 1996.

A laserdisc copy of the film Nukie in 1987.

The 2007 Volta album by Björk.

A copy of the album Back in the Day: ‘the best of Bootsy’ by Bootsy Collins released in 1994.

 

If you look closely, you will find in the showcase gifts offered by the French; an edition of Petit Futé on Korea that was offered by Séverine Bardon and Dominique Auzias during their visit in 2017. According to several analysts, this exhibition would serve as a propaganda instrument to show that the North Korean Government benefits from global support. Foreign tourists are indeed informed that the gifts presented constitute a "proof of endless love and respect for the great ruler". On the other hand, the North Korean visitors who are not made aware of the ceremonial Protocol of exchange of diplomatic gifts believe that unilateralism exists.

 

Kim Il-Sung wrote a poem on the Museum:

 

"On the balcony, I see the most

Glorious scene in the world...

The exhibition which is held here,

Its green roofs overthrown, exalting

The dignity of the nation,

And Piro peak seems even higher. »