Among the national symbols, namely the flag and
\ncoat of arms, the latter is usually considered the least important. Some
\ncountries–notable examples being the United States and Japan \u2013 do not even
\nhave one. That, however, was not the case in the socialist bloc. In North
\nKorea, too, it is present on various documents and rank insignia of the
\nhighest-ranking officers, it is engraved on walls of buildings of important
\nstate institutions, and it is displayed on national holidays in order to fill
\nresidents with a sense of patriotism.<\/p>\n
The history of the North Korean coat of arms may be of
\ninterest to the readers. When Korea gained its independence from Japan, it did
\nnot have a coat of arms \u2013 only a flag and national anthem, both of which are
\nstill employed in South Korea as national symbols. As for the north, the first
\npicture resembling the North Korean coat of arms appeared in Chongro, the
\npredecessor of the Rodong Sinmun<\/i> , on January 1st, 1946. Pictured below, this
\nimage, placed directly above of the first speech of Kim Il Sung, features the Korean peninsula surrounded by ribbons. The design is very similar to
\nthe contemporary Soviet coat of arms.<\/p>\n
This image never appeared again; instead, a depiction of the
\nKorean peninsula without ribbons was used at public events, together with the
\ntraditional flag. The message was obvious: we, the North and the South, are one
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
However, in July 1948, North Korea took final steps to
\nestablish a separate state. The Fifth Session of the North Korean People\u2019s
\nAssembly adopted the Constitution project, which was largely edited by the
\nSoviets, the new flag, and the new coat of arms.<\/p>\n
The new coat of arms survived for only two months. When the
\nDemocratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea was proclaimed on September 9th, 1948,
\nthe new coat of arms was adopted. The furnace was replaced by a hydroelectric
\nplant, or rather, the only hydroelectric plant. Supung hydroelectric plant,
\nerected by the Japanese on the Manchurian border, was featured to symbolize the
\ncolonial industry.<\/p>\n
It remains unknown who ordered the change and why; however,
\nthe responsible party was almost certainly with the Soviets. It is very
\nunlikely the Kim Il Sung, or any of his partisan unit comrades, who spent most
\nof their times fighting the Japanese army, would enshrine the plant constructed
\nby their oppressors as part of a national symbol. On the other hand, the Soviet
\nauthorities took a great deal of interest in the plant, and the hydroelectric
\ngenerator was the only piece of industrial machinery that the Soviet Union took
\nfrom Korea as a trophy.<\/p>\n
The final alteration of the coat of arms took place in 1993,
\nwhen the image of a mountain was replaced by \u201cthe holy mountain of the
\nrevolution, Baekdu Mountain\u201d. This mountain was described as a holy place,
\nbecause the DPRK asserts that Kim Jong Il was born there, while in reality he
\nwas born in a village of Vyatskoye in the USSR.<\/p>\n
However, the Supung plant still appears. And, since the
\nplant is located between China and North Korea, ironically, the DPRK coat of
\narms still displays a part of Chinese land and a plant constructed by the
\nJapanese.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Modern North Korea asserts that it was Kim Il Sung who
\nfounded the country, totally denying any Soviet influence. Of course, the national
\nsymbols, according to the DPRK, were created by him as well. The picture below
\ndepicts Kim in the process of finalizing the design of the flag and emblem.<\/p>\n
Looking at the small picture on the left side of the image,
\nbelow the two miniature flags, one can see the coat of arms in use from July to
\nSeptember of 1948. This clearly shows that the artist of the picture had access to
\nthe historical records of the late 1940s. The saddest part of the story is that
\nif he did, he would have known how far from the truth the image he created to
\nbe, yet he chose to proceed with it anyway.<\/p>\n
* Views expressed in Guest Columns do not necessarily reflect those of Daily NK. Among the national symbols, namely the flag and coat of arms, the latter is usually considered the least important. Some countries–notable examples being the United States and Japan \u2013 do not even have one. That, however, was not the case in the socialist bloc. In North Korea, too, it is present on various documents and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":28410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[644],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-analysis-and-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\n
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