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Photos: Politics, pride behind trip to North Korea’s sacred Mount Paektu

The leaders of the rival Koreas took to the road for the final day of their summit Thursday, standing on the peak of a volcano considered sacred in the North and a centrepiece of propaganda used to legitimize the Kim family’s rule. Moon and Kim took a cable car together to Heaven Lake, a caldera at the top of the mountain, and walked around the area with their wives and officials from both sides. Mount Paektu, is considered not only to be the birthplace of the mythical Dangun, the first ruler of Korea, but also the spiritual epicentre of the North Korean revolution.

Updated on: Sep 21, 2018 11:46 AM IST

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in (2nd-R), and his wife Kim Jung-sook (R), stand with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (2nd-L), and his wife Ri Sol Ju on Mount Paektu in North Korea. There is no more sacred place in North Korea than Mount Paektu —and getting the South Korean President to such a spot is a propaganda coup unlike any other. (Pyongyang Press Corps Pool via AP)

Updated on Sep 21, 2018 11:46 AM

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (2nd-R), and his wife Kim Jung-sook (R), stand with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (2nd-L), and his wife Ri Sol Ju on Mount Paektu in North Korea. There is no more sacred place in North Korea than Mount Paektu —and getting the South Korean President to such a spot is a propaganda coup unlike any other. (Pyongyang Press Corps Pool via AP)

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The still active volcano, site of one the most violent eruptions in history, is considered not only to be the birthplace of the mythical Dangun, the first ruler of Korea, but also the spiritual epicentre of the North Korean revolution. (David Guttenfelder / AP)

Updated on Sep 21, 2018 11:46 AM

The still active volcano, site of one the most violent eruptions in history, is considered not only to be the birthplace of the mythical Dangun, the first ruler of Korea, but also the spiritual epicentre of the North Korean revolution. (David Guttenfelder / AP)

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North Korean women carry wooden snow shovels as they make their way along a snowy road at the foot of Mount Paektu. It was from the dense forests around Paektu that national founder Kim Il Sung’s guerrilla resistance battled the Japanese colonial forces that governed the entire Korean Peninsula until their country’s defeat ended World War II in 1945. (David Guttenfelder / AP)

Updated on Sep 21, 2018 11:46 AM

North Korean women carry wooden snow shovels as they make their way along a snowy road at the foot of Mount Paektu. It was from the dense forests around Paektu that national founder Kim Il Sung’s guerrilla resistance battled the Japanese colonial forces that governed the entire Korean Peninsula until their country’s defeat ended World War II in 1945. (David Guttenfelder / AP)

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Paektu is riddled with “secret campsites” where Kim’s supporters fought for Korean independence and honed the revolutionary spirit that would eventually enable them to rise to power after the Japanese were forced out and their own nation split in two. (David Guttenfelder / AP)

Updated on Sep 21, 2018 11:46 AM

Paektu is riddled with “secret campsites” where Kim’s supporters fought for Korean independence and honed the revolutionary spirit that would eventually enable them to rise to power after the Japanese were forced out and their own nation split in two. (David Guttenfelder / AP)

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Updated on Sep 21, 2018 11:46 AM

Images of Paektu are everywhere in the North. It is on the logo of the state-run television network. Giant mosaics of Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il standing on the rim of its crater are ubiquitous. Kim Jong Un has made Paektu, which straddles the border with China, something of a pet project. (David Guttenfelder / AP)

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in puts water from the crater lake into a bottle as his wife Kim Jung-sook looks on. The president has long stated that visiting Mount Paektu was a “long unfulfilled dream.” “Many people in the South would go to Mount Paektu from the China side, but I decided not to, pledging myself that I would go stepping on our soil,” Moon told Kim after reaching the peak. (David Guttenfelder / AP)

Updated on Sep 21, 2018 11:46 AM

South Korean President Moon Jae-in puts water from the crater lake into a bottle as his wife Kim Jung-sook looks on. The president has long stated that visiting Mount Paektu was a “long unfulfilled dream.” “Many people in the South would go to Mount Paektu from the China side, but I decided not to, pledging myself that I would go stepping on our soil,” Moon told Kim after reaching the peak. (David Guttenfelder / AP)

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Workers enjoy an outing on the banks of Chon Lake in North Korea. While it was the first time that South Korean president visited the mountain, Kim Jong Un has climbed the mountain several times and has ordered the closest city, Samjiyon, rebuilt into a showcase of the socialist revolution. (David Guttenfelder / AP)

Updated on Sep 21, 2018 11:46 AM

Workers enjoy an outing on the banks of Chon Lake in North Korea. While it was the first time that South Korean president visited the mountain, Kim Jong Un has climbed the mountain several times and has ordered the closest city, Samjiyon, rebuilt into a showcase of the socialist revolution. (David Guttenfelder / AP)

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On a face of the mountain, just beyond where visitors view Paektu’s lake, workers were putting the final touches on the lettering of a slogan in praise of the Kim family. On Thursday, Moon was almost sure to see that slogan — “Mount Paektu is the Sacred Soul of the Revolution,” with Kim Il Sung’s signature — freshly painted in white. In North Korea, everything is political. Even the mountains. (David Guttenfelder / AP)

Updated on Sep 21, 2018 11:46 AM

On a face of the mountain, just beyond where visitors view Paektu’s lake, workers were putting the final touches on the lettering of a slogan in praise of the Kim family. On Thursday, Moon was almost sure to see that slogan — “Mount Paektu is the Sacred Soul of the Revolution,” with Kim Il Sung’s signature — freshly painted in white. In North Korea, everything is political. Even the mountains. (David Guttenfelder / AP)

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