North Korea says that two million people paid a visit to the Mount Baekdu battlefield this year.

The Korean Central News Agency says the number of visitors comprising officers, workers and students increased this year, the 50th anniversary since North Korean leader Kim Jong-il led the first visit to the venue in 1956 with a group of students.

A secret soldiers barracks in Mount Baekdu is regarded as sacred, as it is believed to be Kim's birthplace.

The news agency said that some ten thousand foreigners and ethnic Koreans from abroad also visited the barracks, the battlefield and other historic places.