The Arduous March

The North Korean famine began in 1994 and lasted 4 years. The famine occurred as a result of several external and internal factors, namely: the loss of the Soviet Union's support for their economy and a series of floods which destroyed valuable crops and farm land.

The USSR had been the closest of allies with the DPRK and the DPRK relied heavily on "friendly rates" for foodstuffs, fertilizer and fuel oil to support their economy. When the USSR collapsed the North Korean economy tanked and over the course of the 1990s their economy contracted by at least 50% and the floods in 1995 really pushed the famine into overdrive.

During those 4 years an estimated 1-3.5 million people died either as a direct result of starvation or illnesses related to starvation.[1][2] In North Korea this period is known as the "Arduous March" which was a reference to a propaganda story circulated in 1993. This propaganda campaign called on the people to summon up the strength and courage from the story "Arduous March" in which Kim Il-sung and his guerrilla fighters waged a heroic campaign against the Japanese, "fighting against thousands of enemies in 20 degrees below zero, braving through a heavy snowfall and starvation, the red flag fluttering in front of the rank." Part of the famine propaganda also included the "Let Us Eat Two Meals A Day!" campaign in an effort to preserve resources.[3]

The famine resulted in an entire generation having extremely high rates of stunted growth and mental retardation. The UN estimates that 1/3rd of North Korean children under 5 are malnourished today.[4] While the national famine itself has ended there are sporadic food shortages, flooding and regional famines which continues to this day.[5] Stories of cannibalism, including parents eating their children, surface every few months.[6]

As I discussed in a previous post, North Koreans tend to bury their dead in mounds. So I would like to expand upon that topic and show you a number of examples. There are two types of mounds found in North Korea; the large mound and the small mound.

Large mounds are often located in a well-maintained spot, either alone or with other mounds. They could be ancient mounds containing nobility or mounds for the elite and Korean War "martyrs." Here are some examples:

A single mound on a hillside. The white spot is a marker. (you can see 4-5 smaller mounds in this picture too)

Nine large mounds.

Most probably modern mounds of the elite/martyrs.

Next, a mound 'cemetery' with an anti-aircraft artillery site nearby. These mounds are located in a large city. 

Now, here are the small mounds. Nearly every example you can find of these come from the famine period. It is basically impossible to not find them dotting hillsides, in the midst of farmland, and near just about any city, town and tiny village. A large number of people were also buried in mass graves. As you can see, these were placed anywhere there was a spot of unused land with little order.

On a hill.

In the middle of farmland.

Here are 3 groups of mounds arranged in a rough triangular shape. I've circled them because they may not be very clear due to the image's lighting. I imagine that these were some of the first people to die and that the townspeople tried their best to put some care into their arrangement. As time went on, those who survived simply lacked the energy, time or resources to do more than a basic and quick burial.

These mounds are scattered along the ridges of low-lying hills which the village below has grown in and around.

(Click for larger.)

Finally, here is a large-view image of the locations I have found so far. I try to mark all of the "elite" mounds (purple arrows) because they are far fewer and may be of special cultural/historical importance (I have no way to find out). The white arrows mark large areas of "common" mounds. The shear abundance of the common mounds makes it impractical to mark them all, especially since they are easily found, so I only mark the largest groupings in a given area.

Sources:
1. Famine in North Korea, One Free Korea
2. 3.5 million starved to death, BBC News
3. Kim Il-sung turns 80, LA Times
4. Millions of North Korean children malnourished, The Guardian
5. Famine reports for 2010, The Telegraph
6. Parents eating children out of hunger, AllVoices


--Jacob Bogle, 3/13/2013
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Update 2 + Sightseeing

I now have files started on all provinces, expanded my file on the DMZ and creating a new folder to deal solely with road blocks in and around the DMZ.

I've also re-organized each file to make them easier to use once they're published. Originally I simply had 3-4 categories for each area but that meant they were enormous and if someone only wanted to view train stations they would have had to un-click all the other placemarks. When I began, I had no idea just how many places would need to be marked. So now the main categories for all files are: Military, Monuments and Domestic but they each will have sub-categories, although there may be some differences dependent on the region.

Sub-categories will usually include:
Domestic - Irrigation & Dams, Road & Rail tunnels, Sub-stations, Fishing villages, Town signs, Burial mounds, Compounds, Road Blocks, Unidentified/Unknown items
Military - Coastal positions, AAA sites, Bunkers/Storage
Monuments will not have any sub-categories.

Also, I did a full count and to-date I have marked over 3,260 new places.

Now, let's have a bit of fun and do some sightseeing. As always, simply click on an image to enlarge it.

First there's this naturally made island in the northwest which looks remarkably similar to the real Korean Peninsula.

I wasn't the first person to find this island which would normally mean I wouldn't post it but I find it most intriguing and thought you would as well. Similarly, some of the other locations in this post have been known about for years but they're still interesting and we're "sightseeing" anyways.

Here's an example of the ~3,200 "Towers of Eternal Life" which were erected in every town and village after the death of Kim Il-sung.[1]

This is another monument. Well, actually there are two, the tower (right) and what is most probably a mural (center) of either Kim Il-sung or Kim Jong-il.

Here is one of the few working factories in the country.

Based on close-up imagery the factory looks like it was much larger in the past and as the North Korean economy flat-lined many of the buildings were torn down or fell into disrepair. There is still evidence of some production going on given the dark smudges on the undamaged roofs caused by pollution.

This image shows a large communications tower and shadow.

Korean's (both north and south) are traditionally a Confucian society. Part of that entails burial mounds instead of the below ground burials common to Western culture.[2] Here is an example of one such mound.

It is impossible to tell how old this mound is, but it is likely the person who died was either wealthy or an important figure in the region the mound is located in. During the famine, also known as the Arduous March, the bulk of the 1 million+ dead were buried in mass graves or in smaller, irregularly shaped burial mounds. These can be seen on almost every hill in the country. I suppose this mound could have been built for an important person who died during the famine, but again, it's impossible to tell.

This is Sariwon, the capital of North Hwanghae Province. From space, at least, the city looks nicely maintained, has a well laid out street plan and would be a nice place to live. It has a population of over 300,000. The park located slightly off center-left contains a very large statue of Kim Il-sung.

Finally, we have a vast vacation compound in the port city of Wonsan.

I have zoomed in on Kim Jong-il's villa.[3] The grounds contain a number of large homes (you can see two of them on the right side) which are for government officials and guests. The two largest homes both belonged to Kim Jong-il. When he died Kim Jong-un demolished a number of his father's homes but so far this one has remained intact and will likely be used for years to come.


Sources:
1. North Korea's Cult of Personality, Wikipedia
2. Traditional Korean burial mounds, NK Economy Watch
3. Kim Jong-il staying at villa, Daily NK


--Jacob Bogle, 3/2/2013
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