History
Construction on the main athletics stadium and baseball field began on 24 May 1925 and was opened for use on 15 October 1925 as Keijō Stadium. The venue was the main center for sports events in the city, and along with Kirim Stadium in Pyongyang, it was one of the two venues used in the Gyeongsung-Pyongyang inter-city soccer tournament in the 1930s.
The stadium was the location for mass celebrations of the end of Japanese colonial rule, as almost 250,000 citizens gathered at the venue on 15 August 1945, to celebrate the liberation of the peninsula.[2]
Additional construction was undertaken in 1962 to modernize the two existing venues as well as to create a swimming pool, volleyball courts and soft clay tennis courts. Floodlights were added to the baseball venue in 1966 and to the athletics venue in 1968 to allow for nighttime sporting events.
Before its demolition, the athletics stadium was used as a flea market where all types of new and second-hand goods were sold. It formed part of the massive Dongdaemun shopping district, which had been active for 57 years.
