Kim Il-sung Stadium is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

located in

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...

, the capital city of

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

. The stadium is used primarily for

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

matches.

History

Kim Il-sung Stadium was originally named the Girimri Stadium (기림리공설운동장) in 1926. This stadium held the annual Kyung-Pyong Football Match between Kyungsung FC and Pyongyang FC during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. After the

division of Korea The division of Korea began with the defeat of Japan in World War II. During the war, the Allied leaders considered the question of Korea's future after Japan's surrender in the war. The leaders reached an understanding that Korea would be l ...

, it was used as a venue for speeches by politicians. On 14 October 1945, it was the site of

Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

's victory speech after the liberation of Pyongyang, called " Every Effort for the Building of a New Democratic Korea." Most of the stadium was destroyed during the 1950-1953

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, mostly by U.S. aerial bombing of the capital city during those years. Rebuilt in 1969, it was then called Moranbong Stadium, but in April 1982 it was renovated and renamed in honour of Kim Il-sung. It is used mainly for football matches, and until the 1990s hosted the

mass games Mass games or mass gymnastics are a form of performing arts or gymnastics in which large numbers of performers take part in a highly regimented performance that emphasizes group dynamics rather than individual prowess. North Korea Mass games a ...

(now held in Rungnado May Day Stadium).

Present day

Today, the Kim Il-sung stadium is used as the home ground for the

North Korea national football team The North Korea national football team (Munhwaŏ ko, 조선민주주의인민공화국 국가종합팀, recognized as Korea DPR by FIFA) represents North Korea in men's international football and it is controlled by the DPR Korea Football As ...

, the North Korea women's national football team and the

Pyongyang City Sports Club Pyongyang Sports Club () is a North Korean organization of education specialty with several departments.http://www.korea-np.co.jp/news/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=21687 This organization is based in Pyongyang and plays at the Kim Il-sung Stad ...

and

Kigwancha Sports Club Kigwancha Sports Club or Kigwancha Sports Team (; ), known as Sinuiju Locomotive Sports Club is a North Korean multi-sports club belonging to the Korean State Railway and based in Sinuiju. It was established on 11 January 1956, and has been awar ...

. In 2008, on two occasions, a 2010 World Cup qualifying match between North and South Korea, due to be played in

, had to be moved to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

when authorities in the North refused to allow the South Korean national anthem to be played in Kim Il-sung Stadium, or the

flag of South Korea The national flag of South Korea, also known as the Taegukgi (also spelled as ''Taegeukgi'', ) and colloquially known as the flag of Korea, has three parts: a white rectangular background, a red and blue Taegeuk in its center, accompanied by fo ...

to be flown, as North and South Korea have never granted each other formal diplomatic recognition. The start and finish of the annual Pyongyang Marathon occurs at Kim Il-sung Stadium.Robert Willoughby
North Korea
2nd ed. Bradt Travel Guides, 2008

References

External links

Kim Il-Sung Stadium photo
at WorldStadiums.com
Kim Il-Sung Stadium on Google Maps
{{coord, 39, 2, 37.4, N, 125, 45, 27.7, E, type:landmark, display=title Sports venues completed in 1969 Football venues in North Korea National stadiums Sports venues in Pyongyang Kim Il-sung 1969 establishments in North Korea

History

Present day

See also

References

Further reading

External links