Even Nature Wails

Around December 17, 2011, the day when Kim Jong Il died, unusual natural phenomena were observed in the DPRK.

Mt. Paektu Writhes in Agony

Since olden times Mt. Paektu, with snow-capped peaks all the year round, has been called the ancestral mountain of the Korean nation. 

The mountain bears the footprints of Kim Il Sung, the legendary commander of the Korean anti-Japanese guerrilla army which fought to liberate Korea in the first half of the last century. It is also Kim Jong Il’s birthplace.

The ancestral mountain writhed in agony over the death of its son.

On the evening of December 16, the day before Kim Jong Il’s death, Lake Chon on the summit of the mountain trembled, the roar of cracking ice shaking the primeval forests all around. This phenomenon lasted until the 20^th.

From the evening of the 18^th to the morning of the 19^th, thin flakes of snow fell heavily from the star-spangled sky over Kim Jong Il’s native home in the Paektusan Secret Camp.

On the evening of the 19^th, a scarlet glow was cast over Jong Il Peak, reminiscent of the red flag associated with the leader’s whole life. 

Birds Weep

During the period of mourning that lasted until the 29^th, people streamed endlessly to the venues of mourning service in all parts of the country. Strange “mourners” were also seen there. 

At about 8:30 am on the 21^st, a pair of ringdoves appeared outside the hall arranged for mourning service by the Pukchang Area Coal Mining Complex in South Phyongan Province. They pecked at the windows of the hall as if trying to enter it. Despite failure, they appeared there five times. Eventually, they sat on a tree nearby and chirped for half an hour as if crying for the leader, before flying towards Pyongyang.

Approximately at 1:15 pm on the same day, seven eagles appeared in a row in the sky over the venue of mourning service at a mine in Yonsan County, North Hwanghae Province. They circled around the place 23 times and headed for Pyongyang.

Around noon on the 23^rd, dozens of magpies were seen twittering over the plaza of the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang, as if joining the people in wailing before the large portrait of smiling Kim Jong Il put up in front of the house. 

At 1:00 am on the 25^th, flocks of mallards began to quack on the Pothong River in Pyongyang, in the direction of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace where the leader lies in state. At daybreak more than hundred mallards circled the river and flew towards the memorial palace. 

In other places falcons, Manchurian cranes, tawny owls and screech owls joined the mourners. 

Heaven Sheds Tears

Pyongyang, where the ceremony of bidding last farewell to the leader was to be held, witnessed a more mysterious phenomenon on December 28. 

The snow that began to fall the previous evening continued on, and the sky was as gray as the people’s sorrow of parting with their leader. 

As the hearse took off from the Kumsusan Memorial Palace and proceeded along the route extending for over 40 kilometres, millions of people lining the streets burst into tears wailing for their leader. At the same time the feathery flakes of snow changed into torrential downpour. Indeed, the land and sky were wailing at this historic moment. 

The snow ceased at the end of the ceremony. 

People said that the heaven was shedding tears over the death of the great man it had sent to the earth.