SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il turned 67 on Monday, with state media lauding him as a ``great politician'' and ``heaven-made commander,'' while urging his country's hunger-stricken people to remain loyal.
Kim's birthday is one of the North's biggest national holidays, along with that of his late father and national founder Kim Il Sung who died in 1994. An intense cult of personality flourishes around the autocratic leader.
On Monday, the official Korean Central News Agency was full of dispatches praising Kim with news of congratulatory messages and gifts flooding in from overseas and the anniversary being celebrated around the world.
``Comrade Kim Jong Il is a great politician, a heaven-made commander and an affectionate father, who safeguards and illuminates the fate of our nation and people,'' the country's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a lengthy editorial, carried by KCNA.
``We have to sincerely uphold the dear general's military-first leadership,'' it said.
The celebrations came amid high tensions over Pyongyang's reported moves to test-fire a long-range missile. KCNA said earlier in the day the North will press ahead with a launch, portraying it as part of a space program amid growing calls to drop the plan.
It was Kim's first birthday since he apparently suffered a stroke last summer, a development that raised concerns about possible instability in the totalitarian nation in case he is incapacitated, as he has not named any of his three sons as a successor.
Kim's health condition has since appeared to improve, as he met with a Chinese envoy last month — his first known meeting with a foreign dignitary since the reported stroke. Pyongyang has denied Kim was ever ill.
In the run-up to the birthday, Pyongyang's state media have reported a festive mood sweeping the country, with arts performances, sports competitions, a film festival and other commemorative events. On Monday, an exhibition of the Kimjongilia — a red flower cultivated in honour of Kim — also began in the isolated nation, KCNA said.
But across the tense inter-Korean border, defectors and activists in South Korea flew tens of thousands of anti-Kim leaflets by balloon to the North, ignoring a warning from their government that the campaign could provoke Pyongyang.
On Monday, activists for the first time stuck North Korean cash into some of the vinyl leaflets in an effort to entice North Koreans to pick up the propaganda that urges an uprising against Kim.
``It has been reported that the North Korean authority is not handing out the dear leader's birthday treats this year,'' said Park Sang-Hak, a leading activist and defector from North Korea. ``We're sending this money today so that our fellow North Korean people can buy food.''
Suzanne Scholte, chairwoman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition in the US, said the leaflet campaign is a way to provide North Koreans with ``true information about their circumstances.''
``It is more important than ever that North Koreans realize that the greatest threat to their well-being and security is their own dear leader,'' she said during the leafleting campaign at the border town of Imjingak.
SAoruce: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/NKorea-celebrates-Kims-birthday/articleshow/4135452.cms
Kim's birthday is one of the North's biggest national holidays, along with that of his late father and national founder Kim Il Sung who died in 1994. An intense cult of personality flourishes around the autocratic leader.
On Monday, the official Korean Central News Agency was full of dispatches praising Kim with news of congratulatory messages and gifts flooding in from overseas and the anniversary being celebrated around the world.
``Comrade Kim Jong Il is a great politician, a heaven-made commander and an affectionate father, who safeguards and illuminates the fate of our nation and people,'' the country's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a lengthy editorial, carried by KCNA.
``We have to sincerely uphold the dear general's military-first leadership,'' it said.
The celebrations came amid high tensions over Pyongyang's reported moves to test-fire a long-range missile. KCNA said earlier in the day the North will press ahead with a launch, portraying it as part of a space program amid growing calls to drop the plan.
It was Kim's first birthday since he apparently suffered a stroke last summer, a development that raised concerns about possible instability in the totalitarian nation in case he is incapacitated, as he has not named any of his three sons as a successor.
Kim's health condition has since appeared to improve, as he met with a Chinese envoy last month — his first known meeting with a foreign dignitary since the reported stroke. Pyongyang has denied Kim was ever ill.
In the run-up to the birthday, Pyongyang's state media have reported a festive mood sweeping the country, with arts performances, sports competitions, a film festival and other commemorative events. On Monday, an exhibition of the Kimjongilia — a red flower cultivated in honour of Kim — also began in the isolated nation, KCNA said.
But across the tense inter-Korean border, defectors and activists in South Korea flew tens of thousands of anti-Kim leaflets by balloon to the North, ignoring a warning from their government that the campaign could provoke Pyongyang.
On Monday, activists for the first time stuck North Korean cash into some of the vinyl leaflets in an effort to entice North Koreans to pick up the propaganda that urges an uprising against Kim.
``It has been reported that the North Korean authority is not handing out the dear leader's birthday treats this year,'' said Park Sang-Hak, a leading activist and defector from North Korea. ``We're sending this money today so that our fellow North Korean people can buy food.''
Suzanne Scholte, chairwoman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition in the US, said the leaflet campaign is a way to provide North Koreans with ``true information about their circumstances.''
``It is more important than ever that North Koreans realize that the greatest threat to their well-being and security is their own dear leader,'' she said during the leafleting campaign at the border town of Imjingak.
SAoruce: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/NKorea-celebrates-Kims-birthday/articleshow/4135452.cms
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