Personal recollections of North Korea’s founding dynasty are fading in Kim Jong Il’s Russian birthplace of Vyatskoe. But even as memories of the Kims dim, construction of a large Chinese-backed memorial complex in the village will likely keep conversations alive concerning a controversial chapter in North Korea’s pre-history.

For much of its past, Vyatskoe has been an unglamorous place. Locals in Khabarovsk, the nearby regional capital, note that it is sometimes nicknamed Blyadskoe, a play on an extremely rude Russian curse word.

Lying deep in the woods on the right bank of the mighty River Amur, the village is perched between rundown