Kim Il Sung's Summer Retreat

화진포 김일성 별장

Kim Il Sung's former summer cottage near Hwajimpo Lake.

The former vacation home of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung near Lake Hwajinpo, on Korea’s east coast (November 2024).

Fine views on the East Sea / Sea of Japan (but not-that-fine vibes) at former Kim Il Sung’s summer house, about 18 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border.

The “Eternal President” of North Korea and founder of the Kim dinasty used this mansion as his summer retreat between 1948 and 1950, at the time when this part of Korea, located above the 38th parallel, belonged to the North.

Called “Castle of Hwajinpo”, it was designed by a German architect and completed in 1938, during the Japanese colonial rule, and was first used by Christian missionaries. The villa became a dacha for Russian troops who liberated Manchuria and northern Korea in 1945, and was later taken over by Kim Il Sung.

Kim spent his holidays there with his wife Kim Jong Suk and his son Kim Jong Il, the future “Great Leader” and father of the current leader Kim Jong Un. Soviet major general Nikolai Georgiyevich Lebedev, who played a major role in installing Kim Il Sung at the pinnacle of power, was also a regular at the residence with his family.

The view from Kim Il Sung's former summer cottage near Hwajimpo Lake.

The view from the Eternal President’s office (November 2024).

The place has been in South Korean territory since the end of the Korean War and open to the public since 1999. No one really knows whether the building is original – and miraculously survived wartime destruction intact – or a replica.

Here you can wander around what is said to be Kim’s bedroom. There is also a picture of Kim Jong Il when he was six years old, sitting next to one of the two sons of general Lebedev. Apparently, visitors of around the same age are not impressed.

An old picture shows Kim Jong Il, Kim Il Sung's son, and other children in the late 1940s or early 1950s.

A picture shows Kim Jong Il, Kim Il Sung’s son and current leader Kim Jong Un’s father, along with other children (November 2024).

Surprisingly enough, Syngman Rhee, South Korea’s first president and Kim’s mortal enemy, as well as his Defense minister Lee Ki-poong also built their summer cottages nearby after the war.

I’ve wanted to visit this “villa” for a long time. However, when I did, I felt a slight unease, a bit like when I go to former Nazi sites in France. The scenery is fantastic, with Lake Hwajinpo – Korea’s largest lagoon, a vast sandy beach and Korean red pine-clad cliffs overlooking the sea. But there is something in the air here that’s indefinable but noxious…