A screen has been erected around the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il located in front of the Korean Revolution Museum, on Mansu Hill, in Pyongyang.
Daily NK’s review of satellite images taken by Maxar on May 3 found that a white screen has been set up around the statues of the North Korean founder and his son. The screen was not visible in a satellite image taken on Apr. 28 but had been installed by the time another satellite image was taken on May 3.
On Apr. 15 — the Day of the Sun, North Korea’s most important holiday celebrating the birthday of Kim Il Sung — Rodong Sinmun ran an article titled “On a Meaningful Day of the Sun,” which reported that high-ranking officials from the Workers’ Party of Korea, the government and the military including Kim Tok-hun, Choi Ryong-hae and Ri Pyong-chol had placed floral baskets before the Mansu Hill statues. The same issue of the newspaper printed a photograph of several hundred officials standing in front of the statues.
Then on Apr. 26, Rodong Sinmun reported that members of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) had laid flowers before the Mansu Hill statues to mark the 92nd anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army (KPRA).
Given those reports, the statues were likely not covered with the white screen until after KPRA Foundation Day on Apr. 25.
A satellite image taken on Apr. 9, before the Day of the Sun (Apr. 15), does not show any unusual objects around the statues on Mansu Hill, while a satellite image taken on Apr. 28 shows cranes and rebars around the statues. That suggests that something happened after KPRA Foundation Day.
“A screen was installed around the Mansu Hill statues. That took place after the celebration of the 92nd anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army,” a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
According to the source, the Mansudae Art Studio department in charge of repairing and restoring statues of North Korean leaders is currently repairing the Mansu Hill statues after being ordered to do so by the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in mid-April.
The statue repair work includes upgrading lightning rods, clearing away bird droppings and other debris, cleaning the statues, repairing any discoloration, polishing the plating and redoing the coating.
The repair work on the statues is being handled in shifts by a total of 80 people from the North Korean leadership statues repair and restoration department at Mansudae Art Studio, the Mansu Hill statues maintenance office, and the repair and restoration department at the Korean Revolution Museum.
“It’s not clear when the repairs and restoration of the statues will be completed. The statues are so massive that the timeframe will likely depend on how the work goes,” the source said.
The statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill are 23 meters tall. They are believed to be the largest of some 40,000 statues of the father and son scattered throughout North Korea.
Apart from the Mansudae Art Studio’s restoration work on the statues, workers are also upgrading an automated system that is supposed to lower the statues into a protective tunnel underground during periods of crisis.
“An automated elevator is installed that can take the Mansu Hill statues down to an underground tunnel at the press of a button in the event of an emergency. The tunnel machinery is being replaced with modernized equipment. That work is being executed by mechanics with the Supreme Leader’s security team in charge of managing the tunnel underneath the statues,” the source said.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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May 17, 2024 at 06:30AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)