The Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum - the main museum of North Korea

The Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum  | USS Pueblo

The Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum

The museum was originally built in the Central district of Pyongyang in August 1953 as the "Fatherland Liberation War Museum". In April 1963 it was and moved to the Sosong district in a purpose-built building. Recently the museum has been upgraded significantly, including a building spanning across the river and with a large panorama hall at the top. It was visited by 800,000 people in 2013 alone.

In June 2013 Kim Jong Un unveiled a renovated Korean War museum with a U.S.-baiting centerpiece in the form of the spy ship USS Pueblo.

Entering the museum’s main doors, the first sight greeting visitors is a 4-meter-tall colored statue of what looks remarkably like Kim Jong Un but turns out to be a youthful representation of his grandfather and the nation’s founder, Kim Il Sung.

The 1950-53 conflict essentially ended with North and South Korea occupying the same territory they held at the start.

USS Pueblo

The USS Pueblo was attacked and seized near Wonsan by the North Korean Navy on Jan. 23, 1968. One sailor was killed in the assault and 82 were captured and held prisoner for 11 months before they were freed. The ship is still listed as a commissioned U.S. naval vessel, and a U.S. Senate resolution in 2008 declared the Pueblo was the first U.S. Navy ship to be “”hijacked”" by a foreign military in more than 150 years.

The USS Pueblo was moved from its mooring on the Taedong River to a new location in renovated War Museum. It is not clear how the ship was moved. There are 2 versions: the first is that the boat was ‘cut up’ into sections and then transported by land. The other is that it was airlifted by helicopter.