PYONGYANG - Rungnado 1st of May Stadium (150,000)

215178 Views 266 Replies 114 Participants Last post by parcdesprinces, 7 mo ago

Huskies

Discussion Starter · Apr 15, 2009

ok so im new to this forum , i have rad many interesting threads here , but i decided to create a user so i can ask questions to all you knowlegable people out there !

the may day stadium in pyongyang is listed everywhere as the largest stadium in the world with 150 000 seats. the thing that i find craazy is that nobody seems to question that ...

ok , since the stadium is in north korea , the most isolated country in the world , and not as far as i know home to any soccer team i can understand its not the most talked about stadium , HOWEVER a stadium that is apparently by far the biggest in the world deserves its own thread ...

ok so my question is .. does that stadium really take 150 000 people ? i mean the only pictures people post of it is from the outside , and all the pictures from the inside are on the field and not on the stands . there is a low quality photo of the stands on world stadiums and it looks nowhere near a 150 000 capacity ..

yes i understand north koreans are small and you can squeeze in alot of them on a concrete stair type of stand , but still i dont think that stadium can hold more than 100 000 ...

and on the mass games , there seem to be a big one tire stand where all the people with the signs are , but on the pic on worldstadiums it looks like a two tire configuration all the way .... can anyone explain that ?

and last but not least please post your pictures of THE INSIDE of the stadium here ( if you dont know how it looks on the outside just google it or something .... ) since westerners have been alowed in the stadium for different events , SOMEONE must have taken pictures of the stands .. i mean come on biggest stadium in the world , and most people including me dont have a clue how the stands look .... we need to change that !!!

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parcdesprinces

· #21 · Apr 16, 2009

Ganis said:
its all lies.

Please, tell me, where are the lies ?

Take a look at the history and events which are took place in that stadium !

If you don't like it, OK, me too, but please stop doubting for wrong reasons !

As I said it hosted 190,000 (OK approx.) people in 1995 !

As Pompeyfan said its capacity "is far from unrealistic".

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skyperu34

· #22 · Apr 16, 2009

It is so huge and looks interesting ! I like it !

bing222

· #23 · Apr 16, 2009

Do North Korea play any football there or is all concerts

www.sercan.de

· #24 · Apr 16, 2009

To me its never +110,000

parcdesprinces

Which history? We do not have an offcial source. Sorry, but i do not believe in North Korean sources.

IMO its
-150,000 highest attendance (maybe without seats)
-100,000 as an all-seater

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BobDaBuilder

· #25 · Apr 16, 2009

If they get 150,000 to turn up it is only because they are there at the end of a Kalashnikov.

Mind you, those Commies certainly know how to throw a shin-dig.

Huskies

Discussion Starter · #26 · Apr 16, 2009

wearethefuture said:
flickr; Eric Lafforgue

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1.flickr; yeowatzup 2.flickr; minifastcar33

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1+2.flickr; Lucaskt

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1.flickr; Pricey 2.flickr; Lucaskt

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flickr; apathseeker

wow those are nice pics indeed, but i have already seen how the grandstand looks during mass games , im wondering how it looks when its empty , how the actual stand looks , since with all the people it looks like an un interupted huge concrete stair, but you would think it should have some sort of alleys or something ...

and about that " americans ieing pissed " thing , if you must know im not american , im swedish

, the bristol speedway comparison is simply because i think its riddiculos that the capacity difference would only be 15 000 between then , since bristol speedway is som much larger and also seem to have benches instead of individual seats meaning it would probably be even larger if it had 165 000 capacity with individual seatst ?

i guess the may day stadium could take 150 000 people if it was STANDING or sitting crammed on a concrete stair ... but learning now that it actually has seats makes 150 000 seem even more excaggurated ...

and about the melbourne cricket ground , isnt that pitch larger than the olympic type pitch on may day stadium ? cause on maps.google.com the MCG is in " olympic mode " and the there is plenty of room between the athletich tracks and the stands ...

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Huskies

Discussion Starter · #27 · Apr 16, 2009

www.sercan.de said:
To me its never +110,000

parcdesprinces

Which history? We do not have an offcial source. Sorry, but i do not believe in North Korean sources.

IMO its
-150,000 highest attendance (maybe without seats)
-100,000 as an all-seater

yeah agrre with you on that 100 000 all seater

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VelesHomais

· #28 · Apr 16, 2009

Maybe its 150,000 when seats are taken off and everyone is standing

skaP187

· #29 · Apr 16, 2009

www.sercan.de said:
To me its never +110,000

parcdesprinces

Which history? We do not have an offcial source. Sorry, but i do not believe in North Korean sources.

IMO its
-150,000 highest attendance (maybe without seats)
-100,000 as an all-seater

What´s your reaction to Pompey´s 91 rows?

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OEincorparated

· #30 · Apr 16, 2009

Ganis said:
HAHAHA. They are performing and no one is watching. Thats North Korea for you!

No way this is over 100,000 in my opinion.

The pictures with the empty stands are rehersal only. On event night they pack the place like crazy if you look at some of the event pictures.

NeilF

· #31 · Apr 16, 2009 (Edited)

I'm honestly not sure. I think a lot of people are looking at the number of rows posted by Sercan and comparing that to other stadia - Sercan's direction, certainly, would suggest that it doesn't hold as many as 150,000 people but I think Sercan's focus solely on the number of rows of seating is a little askew. The number of rows is important but so is the number of seats per row.

A quick analysis;

It's a best-guess, but the seating area from the pictures in this thread appear to start in a bit in from the innermost parts of the arches - perhaps 15m in on each side. Given this, the seating area of the stadium stadium is about 330m long and 270m wide. Burkit Jalil is 280m by 220m. The circumference of the last row of seating at Burkit Jalil is about 800m. In Pyongyang, it's about 950m, if my 15m estimate from above is correct.

Given the fact that this stadium has significantly more rows and, suggestively, a larger seating bowl, I think it's certainly possible that the capacity is in excess of 120,000 and could well make the 150,000 capacity suggested, given the type of seating used.

I think I'm going to vote yes on this one.

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parcdesprinces

· #32 · Apr 16, 2009 (Edited)

www.sercan.de said:
To me its never +110,000

parcdesprinces

Which history? We do not have an offcial source. Sorry, but i do not believe in North Korean sources.

IMO its
-150,000 highest attendance (maybe without seats)
-100,000 as an all-seater

This stadium was built because Kim Il Sung Stadium wasn't big enough from the point of view of Kim Il Sung who wanted the "Biggest and the best" stadium in the World, In the Great tradition of communist countries......:nuts:

That's why I believe it can host 150,000 people, the're not going to cheat about that because of their crazy hope to be the "best Nation" in the world...

In 1995 (4/29) One of the biggest attendance in the World (190,000) for every sports took place in May Day Stadium.

Official Source : (NJPW) new Japan Pro Wrestling.

(4/28 to 3/1 ) The North Korea Peace Festival Event. Special guest, Muhammad Ali attended. Biggest wrestling event in history; 380,000 people in two days.

There is a small French community in Pyongyang (Journalists, diplomats and doctors) and they give us some news from North Korea.

Le Figaro newspaper, Le Figaro Magazine, 2007 :

S'il n'en reste qu'un, ce sera sûrement celui-là. Dictature communiste ubuesque, le pays le plus secret et le plus fermé du monde résiste au temps grâce à sa politique d'infantilisation massive de ses citoyens. Nos reporters ont réussi à pénétrer au coeur des ténèbres nord-coréennes. [...]

Sans doute y a-t-il là matière à être impressionné : l'harmonie visuelle à laquelle parviennent les milliers d'athlètes se démenant sur la pelouse du stade du 1er Mai (capacité : 150 000 places !) est stupéfiante et le fait que ce spectacle vienne d'entrer dans le Livre Guinness des records pour son nombre de participants (100 000) tout à fait remarquable. Il n'en reste pas moins un mégashow kitsch, quelque part entre la grande parade de Disneyland et le Cirque de Pékin : lancer à l'élastique de gymnastes volants, progression d'une moto sur un fil à plusieurs dizaines de mètres du sol, démonstrations de taekwondo et de lancers de cerceaux, projections de films de propagande, reconstitution, à l'aide de panneaux brandis par une tribune de 18 000 enfants, des grandes scènes de l'histoire de la Corée, de l'occupation japonaise à l'édification du socialisme par le «cher leader» Kim Il-sung. Ce qui donne, dans le désordre : des images de lapins, de poules et de canards (l'esprit kolkhozien), des armes de guerre géantes, des slogans volontaristes («Pour la patrie», «Indépendance»), des paysages bucoliques (lacs, montagnes et forêts du Nord où naquit la résistance antinipponne), des machines-outils (esprit kolkhozien bis), etc. Durée du spectacle : une heure vingt. Le temps d'un long-métrage d'animation pour enfants... [...]

http://www.lefigaro.fr/lefigaromagazine/2007/11/05/01006-20071105ARTMAG90469-le_dernier_bastion.php

Aujourd'hui la Corée (AFP, Agence France Presse, 2007):

[...] Mais à Pyongyang, l'attention des officiels et de la population massivement mobilisée, semblait toute entière tournée vers les festivités d'Arirang glorifiant "l'unité nationale" coréenne: "mass-games", ces grands mouvements d'ensemble sportifs et artistiques qui incarnent la République Populaire et Démocratique de Corée (RPDC), bals folkloriques, galas d'artistes étrangers.

[...]

De fait, le Koryo, le plus célèbre hôtel de Pyongyang, bourdonne des conversations des "hôtes étrangers", artistes, délégations amies, touristes.
Samedi soir s'est déroulé le clou du Festival d'Arirang, pendant 1H20 au Stade du 1er Mai (150.000 places). Un spectacle artistico-sportif, digne de Disneyland et du Cirque du Soleil mais à une échelle colossale, avec rien moins que 100.000 participants: danseuses, acrobates, trapézistes, gymnastes, sur un décor de mosaïque vivante constituée de panneaux manipulés comme un seul homme par 18.000 écoliers.

[...]

Le Festival d'Arirang, dont c'est la troisième édition depuis 2002, se veut une célébration "apolitique".

"Arirang" est une chanson folklorique qui exprime toute la mélancolie de la séparation entre des amoureux. Elle symbolise donc le sentiment qui habite les Coréens séparés", a expliqué le grand ordonnateur de ces Jeux Olympiques nord-coréens, le vice-ministre de la Culture Song Sok-hwan.

Aujourd'hui La Corée, a French site made by the French community of Korea (N & S) :

http://www.aujourdhuilacoree.com/actualites-coree-a-pyongyang-cent-mille-acteurs-nord-coreens-fetent-leur-grand-leader--303.asp?1=1

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Bobby3

· #33 · Apr 16, 2009

bing222 said:
Do North Korea play any football there or is all concerts

No, it doesn't have grass.

They play at Kim Il-Sung Stadium which is basically nextdoor, it also has a track.

pompeyfan

· #34 · Apr 16, 2009

www.sercan.de said:
To me its never +110,000

parcdesprinces

Which history? We do not have an offcial source. Sorry, but i do not believe in North Korean sources.

IMO its
-150,000 highest attendance (maybe without seats)
-100,000 as an all-seater

190,000 is it's highest attendance, per World Championship Wrestling, a US promotion. Occurred in 1995, at a Pay Per View event called Kollision in Korea.

http://www.koreapopwars.com/2008/05/kollision-in-north-korea.html
Video of the main event - Antonio Inoki vs Ric "Nature Boy" Flair

http://www.profightdb.com/cards/wcw-njpw/kollision-in-korea-day-2-265.html
Internet Wrestling Database page for the event.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kollision_in_Korea
Wikipedia page

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Ganis

· #35 · Apr 16, 2009

OEincorparated said:
The pictures with the empty stands are rehersal only. On event night they pack the place like crazy if you look at some of the event pictures.

what are these events for? KJM's amusement? Making him a TYRANT! Its a crappy stadium anyways.

Ganis

· #36 · Apr 16, 2009

I Still think those number are a lie

EllasOle

· #37 · Apr 16, 2009

I think this stadium looks like it can do 150,000 the way that those seats are. The old Da Luz was 120,000 with terracing and 80000 when they put plastic seats in. If plastic seats with backs are put in I think it would hold about 110,000-115,000.

parcdesprinces

· #38 · Apr 16, 2009 (Edited)

A French Documentary From Canal+ about North Korea : (May Day Stadium from 4:13 to 6:48)

Better than Olympics !!!!!:laugh:

More pics:

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8

Huskies

Discussion Starter · #39 · Apr 17, 2009

parcdesprinces said:
(May Day Stadium from
More pics:

man great pics parc , thank you !! the picture of the grandstand when its grey , is that how it looks when its empty ? if so , that stand is extremely wierd .. or is it packed with people holding grey signs ?

i just noticed something interesting .. the huge lower tire clearly has plastic chairs with backrest .. but the upper tire ? it looks like it has blue plastic chairs without backrest , but those small fences scattered all over the upper tire look like those on a standing only type of stand ...

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Bobby3

· #40 · Apr 17, 2009

I think it holds 150,000, personally.

With that said, it's a soulless piece of crap.

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