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Many service personnel and people became heroes in the DPRK during the Fatherland Liberation War (1950-1953) to repulse the armed invasion of the US imperialists.
There is a tree called a “hero” in the period. It is Ichon Hero Gingko in Ichon County of Kangwon Province.
During the war the transport vehicles of the Korean People’s Army would find shelter from the enemy air raids under the tree which grew tall with wide spreading branches and luxuriant foliage.
One day in August 1952 a US warplane recklessly flied low near the gingko tree. It spotted a KPA truck hidden under the tree and tried to attack it, only to be caught in its branches and fall.
Since then, the tree has become the pride of the people in Ichon County.
The shape of the tree was severely damaged by the US bombings during the war. But today it spreads out lots of new branches to recover its shape and grows vigorously as a witness to history and treasure of the country.
It is under government protection as a living monument of the country.
The tree is 24 metres tall, 8.5 metres round at the root neck and 14 metres across at the crown.
The Pyongyang Times, launched on May 6, 1965, is the DPRK's only English newspaper. It gives latest, detailed information about what is going on in the country in politics, the economy, culture and other sectors. And the paper also provides a vast knowledge of the nooks and crannies of Pyongyang.