Case file · Folklore / legend
Bones of Dangun 'found' at Kangdong
In 1993 North Korea announced it had excavated the bones of Dangun and his wife, dated to 5,011 years ago, and built a pyramid mausoleum for them.
1993 CE · 39.15, 126.10 · status: hoax
The account
The find supported the regime's claim that Pyongyang is the cradle of the Korean nation. The stepped granite tomb opened in 1994.
The sceptical view
The dating method was never published in a form outside scholars could check; South Korean and foreign historians reject it, and Dangun is a mythic figure.