Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Taktsang Lhakhang, also known as the “Tiger’s Nest”.
Bhutan • 11 days, 10 nights
Festivals & Temples of Bhutan
from
Macchu Picchu
Peru • 10 days, 9 nights
Peru: Machu Picchu & the Last Incan Bridges
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
The ‘Old Secretariat’ government building in New Delhi.
The 'Old Secretariat'
This set is inspired by a Roman arena.
Bozdağ Film Platolari
The Sea Water Distilling Plant.
Sea Water Distilling Plant
Contemplative paths.
Ayo Rock Formations
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
The sign declares this the number-one gumbo shop in town.
Gumbo Hut Shioya
The pavlova comes crowned with jewel-like fruit.
Central Park Boathouse
The Village Tavern of Long Grove - exterior.
The Village Tavern
Hunter House Hamburgers
L’Escamoteur
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
The truth is out there—somewhere.
The Truth Is Out There at the Dreamland Resort (or Should We Say ‘Area 51?’)
21 days ago
Edward Payson Weston
How the 6-Day Race Became an American Spectator Obsession
22 days ago
Alresford Spy Toilet
This Public Bathroom in a Sleepy English Village Was an Epicenter for Cold War Espionage
24 days ago
Manhattan Well
The Manhattan Well: How Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton United to Solve a Murder Mystery
25 days ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All North Korea North Pyongan Province North Korea's International Friendship Exhibition Hall

North Korea's International Friendship Exhibition Hall

A bizarre collection of gifts to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il from the despots of the world.

North Pyongan Province, North Korea

Added By
Dylan Thuras
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
  http://www.gluckman.com/NKGift.html
  http://www.gluckman.com/NKGift.html
  http://www.gluckman.com/NKGift.html
Photo by LOOLOO IMAGE   http://www.flickr.com/photos/loolooimage/2...
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

If you are an iron-fisted despot or terrorist organization, what do you get another tyrannical dictator as a gift? It would seem, judging from North Korea's "International Friendship Exhibition Hall" that going with a dead animal is always a safe bet.

Located in the UN recognized biosphere reserve of Mount Myohyang, North Korea's "International Friendship Exhibition Hall" is an exercise in contradictions. First off, for North Korea, one of the most isolated countries in the world, having an "International Friendship Exhibition Hall" itself is a bit of a contradiction. In essence, it amounts to an enormous collection of gifts given to Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il by various other communist, terrorist, and despotic regimes.

Among the over 100,000 items gifted to the Kims are: Green railway cars from Mao and Stalin, a bronze tank from the USSR headquarters in East Germany, a gold cigarette case from Yugoslavia's Tito,a 25-watt boombox from the People's Republic of China Communist Party which seems kind of cheap, considering, a gem-encrusted silver sword and reproduction of a Moslem mosque from Palestinian leader Yassar Arafat, and an antique gramophone from China's first premier Zhou Enlai.

This isn't to say the US has never given anything. Yet another of the contradictions of the "International Friendship Exhibition Hall" is that gifts have indeed been given by the democratic western world, albeit only a few, and are proudly displayed. The circumstances of the gifts from the US are unknown and probably date to Kim Il Sung's era, but include a book, vase, and mirror, three pewter and silver pieces, and two homemade art objects. One can't help but wonder who made these "art objects" and what they could possibly be. Among the other gifts from the west is a basketball signed by Micheal Jordan, and given (for what reason it is unclear) by Madeleine Albright.

One of the more bizarre gifts are perfect copies of the black limousine cruisers seen in "The Untouchables" from Soviet leaders Georgy Malenkov and Nikolai Bulganina. Obviously less concerned with impressing North Korea, Gorbachev sent only a Glass vase with the Communist star on it. Mongolia sent silver chopsticks, while the Chairman of the Journalist Association of Kuwait sent a pen set.

From various Industrialists trying to woo Kim Jong Il: a robot drink server, wooden mace, astronaut's suit, Sony Walkman, Casio keyboard, Yamaha organ, football signed by Pele, and an old Apple computer -- which seems like someone might have just been getting rid of their trash -- and once again with a somewhat unimpressive display, a tiny rubber ashtray from the Hwabei Tire Factory in China.

But by far the most popular theme for gifts given by one dictator to another is taxidermy. Fidel Castro gave a crocodile-skin briefcase, and Nicolae Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator who was overthrown and killed by his own people, gave a bear head mounted on a red satin pillow. Lebanon gave Water buffalo-horn handles and the president of Tanzania gave an ivory lion. The National Black United Front gave Kim a small butterfly collection, at some point Canada gave North Korea a polar bear skin, and someone gave a tiger claw positioned as to be tearing through an American map.

Of course, the most creative and unusual of the gifts belongs not to a dictator or even a head of state, but naturally, a revolutionary. The Sandinistas of Nicaragua donated an upright grinning alligator, holding out a wooden tray of cocktail glasses. It comes with a matching ashtray.

While to an outsider the museum represents a bizarre collection, with a remarkable amount of kitsch, ashtrays, and uninteresting consumer goods, it is not outsiders that are the intended audience. North Koreans have almost no contact with the outside world, and this is one place in which they are allowed to see many of the goods from around the world. The aim is to convince them that their leaders are universally admired and lavished with gifts.

One of the hall's guards is quoted as having noted the basketball signed by Micheal Jordan and saying “When the general plays with that ball, it proves that he controls the whole world in his hands.” For that North Korean Guard, Kim Jong Un, like his father and grandfather, really does hold the whole world in his hands.

Related Tags

Museums And Collections Collections Hunting And Taxidermy Cultures And Civilizations Rites And Rituals Follies And Grottoes

Community Contributors

Added By

Dylan

Edited By

Blindcolour, aribrown

  • Blindcolour
  • aribrown

Published

April 11, 2010

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • http://www.gluckman.com/NKGift.html
  • http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=check-out-unescos-newest-biosphere-2009-05-28
  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/loolooimage/2854020105/in/set-72157607127683403/
  • http://www.heralddeparis.com/kim-jong-il%E2%80%99s-north-korea-welcomes-legal-us-tourists/63476
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Friendship_Exhibition
North Korea's International Friendship Exhibition Hall
Mount Myohyang
International Friendship Exhibition Hall
North Pyongan Province
North Korea
40.018611, 126.333056
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Kumsusan Palace of the Sun

Pyongyang, North Korea

miles away

Arch of Triumph

Pyongyang, North Korea

miles away

Ideals of the North Korean Workers' Party Monument

Pyongyang, North Korea

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of North Korea

North Korea

Asia

Places 13
Stories 6

Nearby Places

Kumsusan Palace of the Sun

Pyongyang, North Korea

miles away

Arch of Triumph

Pyongyang, North Korea

miles away

Ideals of the North Korean Workers' Party Monument

Pyongyang, North Korea

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of North Korea

North Korea

Asia

Places 13
Stories 6

Related Places

  • The museum entrance.

    Mexico City, Mexico

    Museo Dolores Olmedo

    This extraordinary art museum is like a secret world on the edge of Mexico City.

  • The museum entrance.

    Madrid, Spain

    Museo de América

    This fascinating and poignant museum chronicles every imaginable aspect of Spanish colonialism in the Americas.

  • One of the museum’s dioramas of animals staged in their natural habitats.

    Birchington-on-Sea, England

    Powell-Cotton Dioramas

    An English explorer's vast natural history collection has the first realistic dioramas of animals staged in their natural habitats.

  • The entrance to the museum.

    Kharkiv, Ukraine

    Museum of Sexual Cultures of the World

    It's the only museum of its kind in Ukraine.

  • The entrance to Little World Museum of Man.

    Inuyama, Japan

    Little World Museum of Man

    An anthropological theme park that depicts the cultures of around 20 different countries.

  • Ornamental skulls display in the Museum

    Aguascalientes, Mexico

    National Museum of Death

    A uniquely robust and historic look at Mexico's omnipresent dance with Death.

  • Brightly Colored Display Cases

    London, England

    Horniman Museum and Gardens

    A Victorian natural history and ethnographic museum with wonderful turn-of-the-century, science-book-esque evolution displays.

  • Southern Pines, North Carolina

    Creation Museum, Taxidermy Hall of Fame, and Antique Tool Museum

    A curious blend of taxidermy, antique tools, creationism, and a purported antediluvian rock.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.