Paeksong Revolutionary Site

Introduction
Location
Visiting

Introduction

Meaning ‘White Pine Tree’ area, Paeksong Revolutionary Site is the place that Kim Il Sung University was moved during the Korean War when Pyongyang was occupied by allied forces and then, after being taken again by the KPA, subjected to a sustained and brutal carpet-bombing campaign.

Being tucked away in a valley Paeksong somehow avoided being seized during the period that the area was under the control of non-DPRK forces, staying handily out of sight throughout the conflict.

Location

To the north of Pyongsong, around 20 minutes’ drive up the highway and then across a narrow single-lane country road. Pyongsong, in turn, is about 45 minutes by road from Pyongyang.

Visiting

As Paeksong Revolutionary Site is associated with Kim Il Sung, and his eponymous University, this is considered a very important place. There is, therefore, a bronze statue here that visitors go to first and pay their respects. This statue shows Kim Il Sung in his military uniform from the 1950s, when he visited students here.

A guided tour leads then up the scenic valley to the sites used as a university in the 1950s including classrooms, teachers’ and students’ accommodation, dining rooms, and more.

There is a bench that Kim Il Sung sat on when he arrived to speak to the students and faculty (granting them increased rations due to considering them as essential to post-war reconstruction efforts), as well as a mosaic mural of this event as well. The Paeksong Revolutionary History Museum is very rarely-visited and basically explains the story that you get when visiting the actual site itself, so can be skipped with no great loss.

Paeksong is a very pleasant area, the walk is a nice one, there is also a small Buddhist Temple nearby and the Paeksong Foodstuffs Factory can be visited when it is operational (free biscuit samples for visitors!)

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