One late September day in 1993, President Kim Il Sung visited the tomb of King Tangun in the seat of Kangdong County.
The tomb, of relatively small size, had been much battered by the weather over the ages.
Looking round the dilapidated tomb with a sinking heart, he said, “I thought the mausoleum would be magnificent, but now I find it puny. I thought it might have been restored somewhat during the 500-year-long Ri dynasty, but nothing seems to have been done.”
Observing that the site was not so good, he continued to say that the mausoleum should be rebuilt on a good site. He then proposed going to a site he had chosen desirable for rebuilding the mausoleum.
The presidential convoy pulled up at the foot of Mt. Taebak.
The President fixed his eyes upon a hillock, which had an open view in front and a trimmed shape.
“The crest of this hillock, with the Munhung-ri dolmen, seems to be the best site for rebuilding,” he said in a satisfied tone. “It will be good to rebuild the mausoleum here, as it commands a far-reaching view just as the Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery on Mt. Taesong does, and is easy of access by car, for it will be near the road.”
“A wonderful site, indeed!” exclaimed an old scholar.
“Right,” said the President. “How nice it will be if the mausoleum is erected here!”
Afterwards he said, “To rebuild the mausoleum in style is of great significance in demonstrating that Korea has a history spanning 5 000 years, that the Koreans are a homogeneous nation of the same blood since their emergence, and that Pyongyang is the native place of Tangun and the Korean nation.”
He organized a committee for the reconstruction of Tangun’s mausoleum.
He detailed measures to carry out the project, and guided the designing so as to make the mausoleum worthy of the founder king of the Korean nation. On July 6, 1994, he examined and ratified the final blueprint submitted by the reconstruction committee.
This blueprint was signed by him just before the final document he ratified on July 7–the document on national reunification.
The reconstruction project was completed and the unveiling ceremony took place on October 11, 1994, the year he died (on July 8).
