North Korea opened the reconstructed Sinchon Museum yesterday with a huge ceremony marking the 62nd anniversary of the “Korean people’s victory in the Fatherland Liberation War.” Or as we call it, the Korean War. The museum is more a showcase of North Korean propaganda around the so-called Sinchon Massacre than it is a real war museum.
The museum, which is fairly elaborate with high production values (at least by North Korean standards) and is far more immersive than the old Sinchon Museum, has multiple creatively lit static scenes and murals, mostly depicting horrific acts against women and children by U.S. soldiers.
Be warned that many of the scenes depicted in the photos below are very graphic.
Although the North Koreans undoubtedly suffered badly during the Korean War, and atrocities did occur, the exact series of events surrounding the supposed Sinchon Massacre are widely disputed among historians and NGOs but they remain a key staple in North Korean anti-American propaganda to this very day.
During a visit to the old museum in 2014, Kim Jong-un described his feelings toward the U.S. after touring the complex:
“The massacres committed by the US imperialist aggressors in Sinchon showed that they are cannibals seeking pleasure in slaughter.”
Party Secretary Choe Ryong Hae was at the opening of the new museum, where according to state news agency KCNA he supposedly said the newly built Sinchon Museum is a “striking demonstration of the spirit and will of the army and people of the DPRK to glorify the history and tradition of victory forever under the uplifted banner of anti-imperialism, anti-U.S. class struggle.” He then called upon all service personnel and people to “wage a dynamic struggle for building a thriving socialist nation at an early date, rallied close around Marshal Kim Jong-un.”
It is astonishingly clear that under Kim Jong-un, North Korea is stepping up its propaganda game on a grand and expensive scale. This new facility was not cheap to build, and will undoubtedly stand to indoctrinate the North Korean people into a hate filled ideology for generations to come.
You can see a photo tour of the museum below: