Pyongyang Review [antikvár]

Foreword Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People s Republic of Korea. It is situated in the heartland of the low area in the northwest of Korea, on the lower reaches of the Taedong River. Its name means a "flat land". It is 84 metres above sea level on an average, and has an average temperature of 9.7 C and an average annual precipitation of 1,053.3 millimetres. Blending harmoniously with the surrounding hills, rivers and fields, it has been known for centuries as a good place to live in. To the northwest stand rows of mountains like a folding screen and low hills dot the horizon in the east. The clear waters of the Taedong River flow through the city, present one picturesque scene after another. The annual mean temperature is moderate. It has four distinct seasons and its appearance changes with each in turn. The name "country of morning calm" is apparently derived from Pyongyang (Note l). But in the past when Korea had disappeared from the world map, drowned in a sea of blood, the ancient city of Pyongyang groaned with pain and resentment. At this time of national distress, the great leader President Kim II Sung was born in Mangyongdae. After he embarked on the sacred road of revolution, Pyongyang impatiently waited for the day of rebirth, enduring all its severe ordeals like the green pine on Nam Hill. After he achieved the historic cause of national liberation and returned in triumph, Pyongyang entered a period of unprecedented prosperity as the capital of revolution. The great leader President Kim II Sung said: "Pyongyang is the heart of the Korean people, the capital of our socialist homeland and a wellspring of our revolution." Pyongyang, the seat of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, the General Staff of the Korean revolution, and the Government of the Republic, has turned into a beautiful and magnificent modern city, into the political, economic and cultural centre of the country, with a population of more than two million within a short period of time by the heroic struggle of the Korean people. Therefore, looking on Pyongyang as a beacon of hope, the south Korean young people and students and people who have a firm faith in victory, are tirelessly waging the righteous struggle to make south Korean