Red blooms and warm glows at Pyongyang flower show
PYONGYANG: A humble tworoom hut nestles beneath snowladen trees, a warm red glow emerging from within, reminiscent of a Christmas Nativity.
It is, according to North Korean orthodoxy, the mountainside birthplace of Kim Jong-Il, who inherited power from his father and passed it in turn to his son, current leader Kim Jong-Un.
The image of the Day of the Shining Star, as the occasion is known, is a recurring motif at the Kimjongilia flower festival in Pyongyang, appearing in mosaics and models surrounded by the eponymous red blooms.
Guide Ri Yun-I had no doubts. “The great leader general Kim Jong-Il was born in a secret camp on Mount Paektu,” she said – a volcano straddling the ChineseKorean border seen as the spiritual birthplace of the Korean nation. Such origins would be appropriate for a man destined to lead the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as the North is officially known.
“Our great general Kim Jong-Il devoted his whole life only for the prosperity of the country and our people’s happiness,” said Ri. “Our people strongly miss him.”
But outsiders beg to differ, pointing instead to Soviet records putting his place of birth as a Siberian village where his father was in exile, and a year earlier than Pyongyang’s 1942.
Officially, it is 75 years since Kim Jong-Il was born, and the North is marking the anniversary with skating and synchronised swimming shows, fireworks and the flower festival – with no mention of the killing this week in Malaysia of Kim Jong-Nam, his first-born son and Kim JongUn’s half-brother. Around 700,000 people are expected to cram into the exhibition hall in Pyongyang over seven days, and its passages were packed yesterday as soldiers and civilians made their way past the displays, many in jovial mood.