Dr. Associate Prof. Jong Kwang Su, Faculty of Economics, Kim Il Sung University
2021.9.23.
The great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung said:
"The excavation of Tangun's Tomb and the discovery of his remains is the great victory of archaeology in our country and an immense pride of the Korean nation."
The great leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, who possessed of the most ardent patriotic idea, were deeply aware of the importance and significance of the historical study of Tangun and Ancient Joson in correctly clarifying and systematizing the 5 000-year-long history of the nation, and led the historians and archaeologists to conduct properly the study of Tangun and Ancient Korea.
The great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung gave precious instructions to study the history of Tangun and Ancient Korea on dozens of occasions in Juche 82 (1993) and Juche 83 (1994), the last moments of his great life.
The first and foremost task in correctly elucidating the history of Tangun and Ancient Korea was to clarify the reality of Tangun Mausoleum, the founder of the nation-building of Ancient Korea. At that time, however, scholars specializing in history, obsessed with the mistaken thought and view that Tangun was only a mythical man, were completely ignorant of Tangun's tomb in Kangdong Town, Kangdong County, Pyongyang, and so they didn't even give a thought of unearthing it.
On January 8, Juche 82 (1993), the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung instructed officials to discover the tomb of Tangun and restore it to its original state, saying that in order to correctly formulate the history of the Korean nation from the Juche-oriented standpoint, it was necessary to correct the history of Tangun and ancient Korea which had been distorted by the Japanese imperialists in the past.
There were not many remains during its excavation as they were stolen by the Japanese imperialists before liberation, but notably there were the bones of two people and the gold-plated pieces of crown.
On receiving the report, the great leader gave the officials concerned an instruction that they should perform scientific and chronological investigation for the fragments of crowns and those bones.
The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il, who is creditably carrying forward the patriotic intention of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung, took benevolent measures to have the historical scientists and archaeologists timely provided the state-of-art equipment necessary for dating human bones unearthed at Tangun Mausoleum.
On September 10, Juche 82 (1993), the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung briefed proudly the members of the delegation of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (ChongRyon) on their visit to the socialist motherland about the successful unearthing the mausoleum of Tangun by our archaeologists.
Saying that our ancestors had worshipped Tangun for a long time, regarding him as a mythical being, the great leader said that in the period of the feudal Joson dynasty people had performed memorial service of Tangun until the occupation of Korea by Japanese imperialists.
He said with great emotion that the discovery of the mausoleum of Tangun and the confirmation of the 5000-year-long remains of Tangun show that Tangun, once recognized as a mythical being, was really and archaeologically proved to be a real man in history and that our country was a civilized country with a 5 000-year-long history, and that we could have a new understanding of Tangun based on scientific grounds.
Indeed, the great leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il were the peerless patriots and great sages of the nation who glorified the nation's history spanning 5 000 years and found the ancestral father of nation-building and the benevolent teacher of our people.
They also paid deep attention to the work of conducting the restoration of the tombs of Tangun along with the excavation of the tombs of Tangun and giving wide publicity to the achievements made in the study of the tombs at home and abroad.
While guiding a consultative meeting on the restoration of the mausoleum of Tangun on Sept. 25, Juche 82 (1993), the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung gave precious instructions for studying the history of Tangun and Ancient Korea and giving publicity to it. On the same day, on the basis of the historical relics and remains newly discovered in Tangun and Ancient Korea, he pointed out that the time-honored history of 5 000 years and the homogeneity of the nation should make public all over the world, and the report on the unearthing of the Mausoleum of King Tangun be introduced widely through the newspapers including Rodong Sinmun and broadcasts, and an academic symposium be organized to widely introduce it home and abroad.
Accordingly, the report of King Tangun's Mausoleum entitled "Demonstration of 5 000-year-long history and homogeneity of the nation" was published in Rodong Sinmun on October 2, Juche 82 (1993).
The great leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il led the work to successfully reconstruct the tomb of King Tangun as a mausoleum of the ancestral father of the nation in keeping with the successful excavation and dating of the tomb of King Tangun.
On September 27, Juche 82(1993), the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung visited the Mausoleum of King Tangun in Kangdong County, together with officials and historians concerned, and gave instructions in terms of its preservation, looking around the mausoleum of Tangun, its monument and stone sculpture of tiger.
Saying that the King Tangun's mausoleum should be located in a good place and reconstructed well, he invited the officials to get into his car, remarking that he had pinpointed one location in mind.
He climbed a beautiful hill at the foot of Mt. Taebak and said that it would be the best place for the reconstruct of the mausoleum of King Tangun.
The site set by the great leader was an excellent place in many aspects such as the feature and location of the mountain.
With such noble love for the nation, the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung personally set the site for the reconstruction of the mausoleum and gave detailed guidance to make sure that it could be wonderfully built as a monumental edifice in the era of the Workers' Party.
On October 20, Juche 82(1993), the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung held a consultative meeting of officials concerned with the reconstruction of the Mausoleum of King Tangun and made a historic speech titled "On the Direction of Reconstruction of the Mausoleum of King Tangun".
That day, the great leader Kim Il Sung said that the reconstruction of the Mausoleum of King Tangun had a great significance as ours is a long historical country with a history of 5,000 years, a homogeneous nation which has inherited one blood vessel since the birth of our nation, and that Pyongyang, the capital of the revolution, is the original birthplace of Tangun as well as Korean nation.
Noting the Mausoleum of King Tongmyong, the founder of Koguryo, is the tomb of the primitive father of the Korean nation, the great leader pointed out that the Mausoleum of Tangun be larger and higher than the Mausoleum of King Tongmyong, the founder of Koguryo, and its construction be completed in a pyramid-making way with stone layers rather than earth as used in the case of Mausoleum of King Tongmyong.
In the last period of his life, too, the great leader acquainted himself with the construction of the Mausoleum of King Tangun and took necessary measures and personally examined the plan for reconstructing the mausoleum and approved it.
During the great mourning period when the whole country writhed in the agony of the demise of the father of the nation, the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il led the Korean people and the builders of the Mausoleum of King Tangun to convert their agony into the great willpower and courage to turn out in the implementation of reconstructing the Mausoleum of King Tangun, the behest of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung.
He also sent a powerful construction group needed for the construction and took all measures, giving priority to supplying modern machinery and equipment and building materials.
Shortly after the inauguration of the Mausoleum of King Tangun, the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il visited the Mausoleum of King Tangun, which was built as a monumental edifice in the era of the Workers' Party of Korea, on October 29, Juche 83 (1994).
That day, the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il expressed great satisfaction over the splendid reconstruction of the Mausoleum of King Tangun and recollected with deep emotion the undying exploits performed by the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung for the reconstruction of the Mausoleum of King Tangun. He said that the great leader visited Tangun, the ancestral father of the Korean nation, who had been handed down as a myth for a long time, and saw to it that the Mausoleum of King Tangun be reconstructed magnificently.
His historic field guidance to the Mausoleum of King Tangun marked an epochal event in ever glorifying the noble patriotic exploits of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung and conveying the time-honored history and brilliant cultural traditions of the Korean nation down through generations.
The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, who is successfully carrying forward the noble patriotic cause of the great leaders, in a talk to senior officials of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea on Oct. 24, Juche 103 (2014), said with deep emotion the undying feats of great leaders Kim Il sung and Kim Jong Il who devoted themselves to the reconstruction of the mausoleum of King Tangun.
The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un told officials that the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il energetically guided the reconstruction of the Mausoleum of King Tangun which the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung personally initiated and paid deep attention to, as an important undertaking for implementing the behest, and that it is a great auspicious event of the Korean nation and a brilliant victory of the policy of protecting the national heritage that the Mausoleum of King Tangun was splendidly remodeled thanks to the noble patriotism and wise guidance of the great leaders.
Upon receiving the words of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un reflecting his boundless loyalty to the Great Leaders and noble love and devotion for the country and people, the social scientists burnt their hearts with the patriotic will to cherish Kim Jong Il's patriotism and add luster to the history of the Korean nation recovered and glorified by the peerlessly great men under his seasoned leadership.
