Process with a dark background
North Korea tears down huge monument
January 25, 2024, 10:25 a.m
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Hardly any other political leadership in the world attaches as much importance to symbolism as the North Korean one. It is all the more remarkable that she has now had a huge monument in the capital Pyongyang torn down. The process is likely to have a serious background: the new hostilities with South Korea.
North Korea has reportedly demolished a large monument in Pyongyang that symbolized hopes of reunification with South Korea. This emerges from an analysis of satellite images by the news website NK News. President Kim Jong Un ordered it to be removed earlier this month, it said. The process is probably at least unusual, because symbols such as holidays, marches or even monuments are extremely important in the North Korean dictatorship.
The “Reunification Monument” consisted of two 25-meter-tall female figures in traditional Korean costumes holding up a plaque with the map of the unified Korea. It was built in 2001 to commemorate the efforts of the “eternal President” Kim Il Sung to reunify North Korea and South Korea. The monument spanned the Pyongyang-Kaesong Expressway, which leads to the demilitarized zone between the two countries.
The reason for the demolition is likely to be the management’s new approach to its southern neighbor. In the last few weeks, the tone had become significantly more tense, even by Korean standards – primarily from Pyongyang, but also from Seoul. The whole thing was accompanied by military maneuvers and weapons tests, which North Korea in particular carried out. On South Korean islands near the border, residents even temporarily went to shelters.
No more reunification efforts
North Korea recently announced that it no longer sought unification with the South and viewed it as an “enemy”. The people are no longer “of the same people,” said Kim Jong Un. Originally, a merger with the South had always been part of North Korea’s doctrine, which is why experts see the new rhetoric as a remarkable step.
This could also have been carried out symbolically with the demolition of the “Monument to Reunification”. Possibly to send a corresponding signal to the population. Kim Jong Un called the monument an “eyesore” at a meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly in mid-January, according to NK News. He ordered it to be “completely removed…to completely eliminate terms such as ‘reunification’, ‘reconciliation’ and ‘compatriots’ from the national history of our republic.”