Wonsan Revolutionary Museum
원산혁명사적관 (이전 원산세관).
Former Wonsan Customs Office, built in 1907 by the Japanese. This is a reconstruction - the original building was destroyed during the Korean War. It houses an exhibition about the "triumphal return" of Kim Il Sung to Korea on September 19th, 1945.
After having spent most of the Second World War in the Soviet Union, Kim Il Sung finally returned to Korea in September 1945, more than one month after the end of the war. On September 19th, 1945 he arrived in Wonsan harbour together with some fellow partisans on board of a Soviet ship, wearing a Soviet Army uniform. After disembarkation, he reported to the local Soviet Army headquarters (which were located in the former customs office) and held several meetings with local cadres before boarding a train to Pyongyang on September 21st. Most Wonsan citizens probably did not even notice the so-called "triumphal return" of their future dictator. (In his memoirs, the 80-year old dictator complains the Soviet authorities had kept his return secret in order to avoid welcoming mass rallies - a ridiculous claim which sheds some light on his state of mind.)
In the early 1970s, when the personality cult around the "Great Leader" reached a peak, the sites of his "triumphal return" were refurbished as "revolutionary sites". Unfortunately, most of them had been destroyed during the Korean War or the postwar reconstruction, so the propaganda department had to put up replications. Thus, Wonsan customs office, the former railway station, an inn and a Japanese residence were carefully reconstructed following the original design. It is a certain irony of history that all these buildings (which had been designed and used by the Japanese) now serve as silent witnesses of Korea's colonial past to the knowledgeable observer.
This revolutionary storytelling was actively supported by Kim Il Sung himself. When the "Great Leader" visited Wonsan in October 1976, he gave detailed "on-the-spot guidance" to the reconstructed revolutionary sites, telling the locals how to improve them.
On Aug. 16th, 2008 KCNA proudly reported that the Wonsan revolutionary sites had been visited by more than 6 million "working people, youth and students, overseas Koreans, and foreigners" since their opening (www.kcna.co.jp/calendar/2008/08/08-16/2008-0815-014.html).