Not that it was- I think June or July in 1998 is more accurate. This image popped up in the holiday search for items to highlight the year to come against those of years past. In the image below, I was still active duty, and had been drawn into the web of my favorite Congressman. He worked all sorts of issues, and I was not part of it for any particular reason except my job at the time allowed me to draw on the resources of the Department of the Navy to meet his just requirements. This was ostensibly to search for Americans Missing in Action (POW/MIA) in parts of Asia that had not been examined for some troublesome matters of geopolitical unpleasantry.

Stops included Vietnam, Burma and China. One of the more interesting stops was in North Korea. Prior to the entry of Chinese volunteers, the Eighth US Army had been driving north to the Chinese border. Americans killed in action during Douglas MacArthur’s impressive advance were buried neatly under the supervision of the Army Graves Registration unit. The problem was, of course, that with Chinese reinforcements, the united Nations forces had been driven back south over the cemeteries and lost.

The trip was not really about that noble effort, regardless of what was announced. There was a concerted effort by both Vietnamese and American representatives to normalize relations. That would change the status whoa between the nations. In North Korea, it was actually about a nuclear program, despite the schematics from a war long consigned to an uneasy Armistice.

Amid other searches, this image pooped up. I had not looked at it in several years. One of the events designed to showcase the North Korean state’s achievements is above the two small American figures. It is the main subway station in the North Korean capital. It is impressive and vast. The defensive purposes of the great public work were carefully explained.

The details on the American figures are muted, due to the scale of the art. But under escort by earnest Korean members of the ruling DPRK party, we were impressed. Particularly with the notion that huddled masses might be consigned to the subway in the event the Armistice collapsed, and the last thing on this spinning globe that would be seen was the image of a forthright Kim Il Song, leading his people to victory.

JR