07-06-2011, 09:02 PM
I suppose time will tell.... I will be contacting the embassy in London on the matter some time soon. I would be surprised if Hero Stars and Orders of Freedom And Independence 1st Class and Orders of Kim Il Sung were not recorded in detail as they are not only awarded in far smaller numbers the two latter orders are still numbered which would be a rather moot point if they weren't recording who they went to for almost 60 years. It would seem a rather decadent waste of valuable labour to number them for no reason when produced nationally. It is also a real shame that Hero Star numbering was also discontinued before 4 digits. As there were 481 "Hero of the DPRK" created during the Korean War I don't think it would be too presumptive to attribute Type 1 "Hero Of Labour" stars to the same period too. I think the smaller serial numbers on the reverses of both stars date immediately after the Korean War. There is still so much information to extract but I seriously doubt that it will be an easy job.
