Mangyongdae is situated about 12 km southwest of downtown Pyongyang.
was born in a simple straw-thatched house there on April 15, 1912 and spent his childhood. The 1910s was a period when the Korean nation was suffering under the military occupation of the Japanese imperialists. Born into a patriotic and revolutionary family the members of which devotedly fought for the sake of the country and the people generation after generation, he grew up under the revolutionary influence of his parents. Witnessing the society riddled with contradictions, he nurtured his ambition to liberate his lost country and establish a society geared to the well-being of the people.
He left his home at 13 and waged a heroic anti-Japanese armed struggle to achieve Korea’s liberation, and established a genuine people’s country. He performed epoch-making exploits in history as the leader of the Korean people and a veteran statesman of the world.
Preserved in their original state at Mangyongdae are many relics and mementoes associated with his childhood.
The old home, which showcases the vestiges of his family’s generations-old poverty, contains an inkstone and a desk he used, as well as the household goods that show the diligence, simplicity and warm-heartedness of his family members.
Around it are a number of his childhood relics, such as the Warship Rock where he played at soldiers to cultivate wisdom and guts inherent to a brilliant commander, the Wrestling Site where he hardened his body, the Spring Site, the Sliding Rock, places where he was taught about patriotism from his parents, the Study Site where he was absorbed in reading far into the night, and others.
There are also the Mangyongdae Revolutionary Museum that displays relics and data associated with his revolutionary exploits and his family’s history of struggle, as well as Sunhwa School, Tongnim Pier, and Konyu Islet associated with his family members’ revolutionary activities.
Mangyongdae, together with the august name of the President, is shining as a holy place of the Sun, drawing endless streams of visitors with boundless reverence for him.
Nostalgia (Mangyongdae) – 사향가
