Vyatskoye, Khabarovsk Krai

Vyatskoye (Russian: Вя́тское) (alternatively known as Viatsk or Viatskoe) is a small fishing village in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located on the east side of the Amur River, 70 kilometers (43 mi) northeast of Khabarovsk.

History

The original inhabitants apparently were various Tungusic peoples.

Formerly part of Outer Manchuria, Vyatskoye along with Khabarovsk and Vladivostok was ceded to Imperial Russia by the Qing dynasty as part of the 1860 Convention of Peking.

During World War II near Vyatskoye was a camp for the Soviet 88th Brigade, which was made up of Korean and Chinese guerrillas. Kim Il-sung, future leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, was stationed there as a Captain in the Soviet Red Army commanding a battalion, and according to some sources his family was there as well.[1] According to those same sources his son Kim Jong-il was born there on February 16, 1941 (Although the DPRK government claim Kim Jong-il was born on Baekdu Mountain). Residents of the town claim that his brother Shura Kim (also known as the first Kim Pyong-il) fell into a well and died, and was buried there;[2] however other sources claim that Kim Jong-il's sibling drowned in a pool in Pyongyang in 1947.

Notes

  1. ^ National Public Radio, February 12, 2004. "A Visit to Kim Jong Il's Russian Birthplace".
  2. ^ Chosunilbo (newspaper), August 22, 2002. "Sergeyevna Remembers Kim Jong Il".