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Representatives of 170 states gave 40,000 gifts to Kim Jong Il

Gifts presented to the first and “eternal” President Kim Il Sung and his wife Kim Jong Suk are also on display there

PYONGYANG, March 19 (Itar-Tass) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, while alive, received 39.9 thousand gifts from representatives of 170 countries, the DPRK central newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported on Monday. The gifts were presented with “a feeling of boundless esteem” by party leaders, heads of state and government, eminent persons, organisations for the study of the Juche idea.

They are currently kept in the two buildings of the Peoples Friendship Exhibition built in the traditional Korean style in the Myohyang-san mountains. Gifts presented to the first and “eternal” President Kim Il Sung and his wife Kim Jong Suk are also on display there.

It has been calculated that if a visitor watches each exhibit for at least one minute then it will take him 1.5 years as a minimum to view the whole exhibition. Most of the gifts, differing in variety and major fineness, have been presented and are still presented by China. In 1996, after the death of Kim Il Sung, his wax figure that rivals exhibits of London’s famous Madame Tussauds Museum was installed in one of the halls of the exhibition. The Chinese made it so artfully that it seems that Kim Il Sung is about to speak and step forward.

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