The Story of an Inn

The Kanggye Inn in the city of Kanggye is a building associated with the immortal revolutionary history of President Kim Il Sung.

The wood-tile-roofed inn has six rooms and a kitchen.

President Kim Il Sung lodged at the inn three times before the country’s liberation in August 1945 and visited it twice after liberation.

He stopped at the inn for the first time in the autumn of Juche 8 (1919) with his mother and younger brothers while following his father who was moving the theatre of his revolutionary activities to the River Amnok areas.

He lodged at this inn for the second time in March Juche 12 (1923) when he was on his way to his native place Mangyongdae from Badaogou of China in his early teens following the instructions of his father to obtain a good knowledge of his country.

The innkeeper could not repress his admiration at the young President’s high aim, courage and iron will who was making the long and difficult journey.

The landlady was overjoyed to see him grown up beyond recognition as if she had met her own grandson and let him stay in her quarters, the best room in the inn. The young President resumed his way for Mangyongdae with a pair of straw sandals on and the other pair over his shoulder for reserve which the innkeeper had made for him all night through.

Young Kim Il Sung was studying hard in the motherland when in January Juche 14 (1925) word came that his father had been arrested by the Japanese imperialist police while carrying on revolutionary activities. He left Mangyongdae for China and stayed at the inn for the third time on the way.

A long time has passed since then. But the memory of the immortal revolutionary exploits President
Kim Il Sung performed on the road of the country’s liberation is cherished in the hearts of

our people together with this inn.

President Kim Il Sung visited this inn twice after liberation and recalled the days gone by with emotion during his tours of field guidance to Kanggye.

In July last year the leader Kim Jong Il came to Kanggye on a tour of on-the-spot guidance and looked round the inn. He listened to the guide, looked round the outside and inside of the inn preserved in its original state and said that the immortal exploits of the paternal leader Kim Il Sung would shine through all ages.

Article & photos: Kim Yong Sok