DPRK

Mass Games

In October 2005 North Korea celebrated the 60th anniversary of the formation of the ruling Korean Workers' Party with the Arirang 'Mass Games' Festival at the 150,000 capacity May Day Stadium in Pyongyang (claimed to be the world's largest). These photos capture some of the 50,000+ strong cast in the spectacular, albeit bizarre displays of mass loyalty to the Dear Leader. The acts included carefully choreographed gymnastics, dancing and military drills with a backdrop of political slogans and imagery provided by students holding aloft coloured cards. The regime invests a lot of resource into these showcase events that occur every five years and which it believes demonstrate the beauty, strength, organisation and energy of its revolutionary heritage. The personality cult of Kim Jong Il and his deceased father, the eternal president and Great Leader Kim Il Sung, is promoted at every opportunity despite the fact that many people in the country reportedly starve from under-nourishment.

Soldiers participating in the event were rewarded with 21'' colour TVs and whole platoons could be seen in Pyongyang carrying these on their backs and loaded in army transports.