Daily NK has learned

that the newly erected statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in Sinuiju were

produced with metal collected from residents during June this year.

“There was a campaign in June on the pretext of

generating loyalty funds. They collected copper from everyone in Sinuiju,” a source in the city revealed to Daily NK on August 12th. “People

had no idea what it was all going to be for, but after the unveiling ceremony they realized what

had been going on.”

She recalled, “They had a campaign to gather copper- no exceptions were made; everyone

had to pay in kind within a fixed period.”

However, the metal is in short supply in North Korea, and this meant that most

residents had to go out and buy their share on the open market. This caused the

price of the metal to spike, and traders to respond to the resulting demand by

bringing in supplies from China.

In North Korea, which

does not have a system of taxation due to having abolished it with much fanfare in the

1970s, residents are obliged to make offerings to the state from as early as

elementary school, and then throughout their adult lives. These de facto tax

payments may be made in goods such as gold, copper, rabbit pelts, or medicinal

herbs, and/or the equivalent value in cash (calculated at market rates, not

according to state prices).

According to the

source, the price of copper averages 9,000 KPW/100g, but this skyrocketed to

13,000 KPW during the statue campaign, which took

place in all enterprises and every inminban, or people’s unit, in the city of 350,000 people, the sixth largest in the country.

The resulting metal was then shipped to Mansudae Art Studio, which manufactured

the new twin statues.

Established in

November 1959, Mansudae Art Studio is famed worldwide for its high

quality, low budget public statuary. Operating under the direct

oversight of the Chosun Workers’ Party Central Committee, it employs

approximately 3,700 people, around one hundred of whom bear the esteemed

title, “Merited Artist” or “People’s Artist.”

The source claimed

that the statues were formed from composite stone and then coated in a layer of

bronze, an alloy primarily made of copper. Customarily, cast metal sculptures

would be produced by setting liquid alloy in a mold, but this is more expensive

and would require a significantly larger quantity of metal. Although North

Korea has large copper reserves in its northerly mountainous regions, these are a valuable export resource.

The twin statues are

situated in the plaza in front of Sinuiju Station, surrounded by Sinuiju

Customs House [the main portal to and from Dandong], hard currency stores

and the Amrokgang Hotel. Needless to say, the new statues brought the region an

even higher level of security than previously. “[Kim

Jong Eun’s] grandfather and father came along, but

things also got a lot more uncomfortable,’” as the

source put it.

“Before the statues came there were many

photographers who could take pictures of people there to earn money, but now

only the ones with state approval can visit the site to take photos for

commemorative events such as weddings.”

On July 24th, Chosun

Central News Agency reported on the unveiling ceremony of the new statues,

proclaiming, “On November 27, Juche 34 (1945) when he was

exploring the un-trodden path of nation-building, Kim Il Sung exchanged

greetings with people of the province at the Sinuiju City mass rally. Since

that historical day he visited hundreds of units in the province on more than

460 occasions, indicating the tasks facing the province and ways for fulfilling

them, and wisely leading the efforts to carry them out.”

It went on, “The

erection of the statues in the city represents another significant event in

eternally glorifying the revolutionary careers and exploits of the peerless great

men of Mt. Paektu and unfolding a new history of immortalizing the

leaders.”

The article also cited

the unveiling speech given by Kim Yong Nam, the head of the Standing Committee

of the Supreme People’s Assembly, who declared, “Thanks to the outstanding

leadership of Kim Il Sung who worked miracles by always believing in the people

and relying on their inexhaustible strength, power, machine-building and light

industrial bases appeared in different parts of the province, a previously

unknown island turned into a silk island and thousands of hectares of tideland

were converted into fertile fields.”

He added that on his first onsite visit to the area, Kim Jong Il “provided energetic field guidance to it, weathering ordeals during the

arduous march, the forced march unprecedented in history and ushering in the

new era of building a thriving socialist nation.”