The Kumsusan Palace of the Sun (Korean: 금수산태양궁전), formerly the Kumsusan Memorial Palace (금수산기념궁전), is the mausoleum where the preserved bodies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the eternal leaders of North Korea, are displayed. Located near the northeast corner of the city of Pyongyang, the memorial has been renovated from the Kumsusan Assembly Hall (금수산의사당), Kim Il Sung's official residence and office. The palace has been described as the "sacred temple of Juche" (주체의 최고성지) and is noted in the Socialist Constitution as the "eternal sanctuary of the entire Korean nation," being preserved as a national landmark.
Overview Inside the palace, the embalmed bodies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are preserved and displayed within clear glass sarcophagi, housed within separate "Hall of Eternal Life" (영생홀). Their heads rest on traditional Korean buckwheat pillows and their bodies are covered by the flag of the Workers' Party of Korea. At 115,000 square feet (10,700 m2), Kumsusan is the largest mausoleum dedicated to a Communist leader and the only one to house the remains of multiple people. Some halls inside the building are up to 1 kilometre (3,300 ft) long. It is fronted by the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun Square Parklands (금수산태양궁전광장공원), which is approximately 500 metres (1,600 ft) in length, and is bordered on its northern and eastern sides by a moat. The palace is accessed via an underpass across the road at security screening facilities, which is serviced by a tram stop.
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History The palace was built in 1976 as the Kumsusan Assembly Hall (금수산의사당) and served Kim Il Sung's official residence. It was used as Kim's primary workplace and was noted for being the venue for hosting various dignitaries and foreign delegations. Following Kim Il Sung's death in 1994, the building was renovated and transformed into his mausoleum. Original ideas for a memorial included a hall on Kim Il Sung Square similar to the Lenin Mausoleum, a complex at the Mansudae Grand Monument or a shrine at his birthplace in Mangyongdae. However, Kim Jong Il decided that Kim should be preserved at a place where he was "known by and worked for the people." The interior of the building was significantly renovated from an office and residence to memorial hall, believed to have cost at least $100 million, with some sources put the figure as high as $900 million. The monument was renamed as the Kumsusan Memorial Palace (금수산기념궁전) and opened on 8 July 1995. After Kim Jong Il's death in 2011, his body lay in state at the palace for 10 days. Following this period, on 28 December 2011, the palace served as the start and end point for a 40-kilometre (25 mi) funeral procession lasting three hours. On 12 January 2012, the North Korean government confirmed that Kim Jong Il's preserved remains would be put on permanent display in the palace, and on 16 February, in a military parade held in its grounds, the building was formally renamed the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun (금수산태양궁전) by a combined act of the North Korean cabinet and parliament, and the Workers' Party of Korea leadership. Kim Jong Un supposedly gave field guidance at the palace over 150 times in 2012 and gave personal notes over the interior and exterior renovation. These inspection efforts and renovation were categorized in a documentary "May the Sacred Temple of the Eternal Sun Shine for All Eternity" The palace was opened in its current form with a official ceremony on 17 December 2012. On 2 April 2013, the Supreme People's Assembly made a full amendment to the Constitution clarifying the status of the palace, and passed the Law on the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun and its corresponding SPA Ordinance. This formally declared the palace as a national landmark, defined its mission and vision, and prepared measures to maintain it for the benefit of Koreans and foreign tourists. It also outlines the duties of citizens towards this memorial edifice.
Role in the Kim family cult of personality The palace, which symbolizes the eternal presence of the two leaders, is described by North Korean sources and observers as a place of deep reverence, where they are honored in their “lifetime appearance.” Along with Mansudae Grand Monument, the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun is considered a sacred site and not as a tourist attraction to North Koreans, with people under 17 years of age not permitted to visit. The palace functions as a pilgrimage destination for North Koreans. Citizens, soldiers, and foreign visitors are brought through highly choreographed rituals of mourning and respect. This ritualisation of political figures is a core mechanism of the cult of personality, where leaders are not just historical figures but treated as quasi‑divine presences. The palace, containing strict protocols such as bowing rituals at the bodies of the leaders, carries a religious presence to visitors, which is exemplified by its characterization as the "sacred temple of Juche" (주체의 최고성지). Violation of these norms can carry severe penalties, which strengthens the climate of reverence or fear around the Kim family. Current leader Kim Jong Un often visits the palace to pay ritual respects on important national occasions such as the Day of the Sun and Day of the Shining Star as well as the anniversaries of the leaders deaths, sometimes with his wife Ri Sol Ju and his daughter Kim Ju Ae. He is often accompanied by members of the party, government and military.
Interior and layout The palace is opened to foreign visitors on Thursday and Sunday mornings and on national holidays, with visits taking between two and three hours. Photography, videotaping, and smoking are not permitted anywhere inside the palace. The palace gardens, though, are open all week, and are a venue for national rallies. There are few windows on the building with the exception of one located on the top balcony on the north side. This was the window of Kim Il Sung’s office and was left as is during the 1995 renovation as to give a clear view of the Revolutionary Martyrs’ Cemetery where his first wife and mother of Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Suk, was laid to rest. Later, Kim Jong Il's third wife and mother of Kim Jong Un, Ko Yong Hui, would also be buried in her own memorial at the cemetery. Limiting the windows on the palace was done to make the structure more secure in case of any attacks and limit light exposure of the displays within.
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