History continues to evolve in North Korea, with new revolutionary discoveries being made every year. While the government announced in 1993 that its archaeologists had discovered the tomb of Tan'gun, the founder of the first Korean kingdom, it wasn't until recently that North Korean historians made the incredible 'discovery' that Tan'gun was in fact a member of the Kim clan.
During North Korea's more rational communist period, the government had agreed with most scholars of Korean history that Tan'gun was a mythical figure and that the kingdom of Kochoson (ancient Korea), with its capitals Pyongyang and Asadal, was in fact located in northeast China, if it indeed existed. However, it's been recently 'discovered' that Kochoson was in northern Korea, its capital right where Pyongyang now stands, and that Tan'gun was a real man (and a Kim at that); archaeologists have also discovered his skeletal remains. Those decayed bones (and those said to be of his wife) are on display at a grandly constructed white pyramid mausoleum just outside of Pyongyang. A small museum stands nearby, displaying 'artefacts' from Tan'gun's times, said to have been found in and around the tomb.
