Day of the Shining Star
Kim Jong-il was born in February 1941 to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-suk in Siberia in the Russian Federal Republic, Soviet Union where his father had been in exile because of his guerilla activities. North Korean propaganda, however, dates Kim Jong-il's birth to 16 February 1942 and locates it at the Mount Paektu area in Korea, the mythical place of origin of the Korean people, where Kim Il-sung supposedly ran a guerilla camp. In reality, the guerillas were based in Manchuria at the time and Kim himself had been to the Soviet Far East before and after Kim Jong-il's birth.
Kangdong Residence
The compound was constructed in the 1980s and expanded in the 1990s under the order of Kim Jong-il. It contains buildings for Kim Jong-il, his late wife Ko Yong-hui, his sister Kim Kyong-hui and his brother-in-law Jang Sung-taek.
The area is mostly used as summer residence, to spend holidays or for parties with close officials. The estate has an elaborate garden, set around many lakes. There are numerous guest houses, and a banqueting hall. The whole compound is a maximum security area, surrounded by two armored fence lines with guards huts and checkpoints, clearly visible on satellite pictures. Kim Jong-il’s former cook Kenji Fujimoto worked and lived in a guest house within the compound and provided some photographs dated 1989. Analysis of satellite pictures showed that the area changed significantly since then and even after 2006 new buildings and a new railway station were established. Defectors reported that in Hyangmok-ri, not far from the residence and from the Mausoleum of Tangun, Kim Jong-un’s birthplace is being built, though he was actually born in Changsong, North Pyongan Province.