Arch of Triumph (Pyongyang)

Infobox Korean name|

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|context=north|title=Arch of Triumph
hangul=개선문|hanja=linktext|凱|旋|門|mr=Kaesŏnmun|rr=GaeseonmunThe Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang ( _ko. 개선문) was built to commemorate the Korean resistance to Japan from 1925 to 1945.

Built in 1982 on the Triumph Return Square at the foot of Moran Hill ( _ko. 모란봉) in the North Korean capital city of Pyongyang, the monument was built to honour and glorify President Kim Il-sung's role in the resistance against Japanese rule. Inaugurated on the occasion of his 70th birthday, each of its 25,500 blocks of finely-dressed white granite represent a day of his life up to that point. [McCormack, Gavan, "Target North Korea: Pushing North Korea to the Brink of Nuclear Catastrophe", p. 59. Nation Books, 2004, ISBN 1560255579.]

The structure is modelled after the Arc de Triomphe and was deliberately built to be slightly larger than the one in Paris. It is the world's tallest triumphal arch Fact|date=June 2008, standing sixty meters high and fifty meters wide. The arch has dozens of rooms, balustrades, observation platforms and elevators. It also has four vaulted gateways, each twenty-seven metres high, decorated with azalea carved in their girth. Inscribed in the Arch is the "Song of General Kim Il-sung", a revolutionary hymn, the year 1925, when North Korean history states that Kim set out on the journey for national liberation and the year 1945, the end of World War II, which ended the Japanese occupation.

The Arch is always part of official North Korean tours for tourists and visitors.

ee also

*List of Korea-related topics
*Korean architecture
*Tourism in North Korea

Notes

References

* "Korean Central News Agency of DPRK". [http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/1998/9808/news08/11.htm#3 link] – last accessed on January 19, 2006.

External links

* [http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&t=k&ll=39.044703,125.752891&spn=0.003283,0.006834 Satellite image from Google Maps]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/pokemon2/aerokimchi/dprk_e.html Triumph Arch Picture, Pyongyang]