By Nathaniel Suen Nok-heng
In Pyongyang’s Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum – North Korea’s name for the Korean War — life-size mannequins of dead American soldiers are shown being pecked by crows.
The depiction of the U.S. military defeat takes up a considerable proportion of the museum exhibition, which teaches that the United States invaded the North in an attempt to take over Asia.
Outside of North Korea, the generally accepted version is that the North first invaded in 1950. But North Koreans do not believe this.
“From monuments to museums; from tour guides to townspeople, everything and everyone in the DPRK portrays history so different from our knowledge,” said Ms Angel Chan Hoi-yi, a student in her second year of Chinese journalism studies.
Outside of the museum, North Korea displays it trophy: the USS Pueblo. The US spy ship and her 82 surviving crew were captured by North Korea in 1968.
The crew was held for 11 months, and released only after the US negotiator apologized for intruding on North Korean territory. The US still maintains the Pueblo was in international waters.
The newly painted ship, considered held hostage by the US Navy, was put on display for tourists last year.
