Kim Jong Il was born 80 years ago. A reason for joy for the people of Pyongyang. According to an insider, the regime gave her plenty of gifts.
Pyongyang – When Kim Jong-il died in December 2011, not only the North Korean people were mourning. Nature was also inconsolable about the passing of the “dear leader”: The ice of the frozen Heavenly Lake at the summit of the Paektusan volcano, for example, broke up “so loudly that it shook heaven and earth,” reported the state news agency KCNA at the time.
Kim Jong-il would have turned 80 this Wednesday (February 16). But instead of mourning, it was a day of joy for many in North Korea. Because on the occasion of the celebrations for Kim’s birthday, his son, the current ruler Kim Jong-un, brought out the big guns: fireworks, pompous celebrations – and gifts for the citizens of the capital Pyongyang.
North Korea: Everyone ‘erupts in thunderous cheers’ when Kim appears
The state leader, who died at the end of 2011, was honored with a so-called “national meeting” in the city of Samjiyon on the border with China, state media reported on Wednesday. The mass rally in front of a larger-than-life statue of Kim Jong-il took place on Tuesday, one day before his birthday. In addition to his son and successor Kim Jong-un, other officials from the Labor Party and the government as well as the military took part.
When Kim Jong-un appeared at the meeting, “everyone in attendance erupted in cheers,” writes the KCNA news agency, “‘Hurrah!’ to him who, with his relentless revolutionary leadership, has elevated the power of socialist Korea, the Chairman’s supreme patriotic heritage, and his position to the highest level, and made into brilliant reality the Chairman’s aspiration to build a mighty country.”
North Korea: Choosing an iconic site
The choice of the city of Samjiyon as the location for the celebrations is of particular significance: it lies at the foot of Paektusan, the mountain that is said to have mourned the death of Kim Jong-il a good ten years ago. The Paektusan also plays an important role in the mythology of the two Koreas. North Korea also describes it as the “holy mountain of the revolution”, where Kim Jong-il is said to have been born in 1942. Both the place of birth and the year of birth are doubted by western experts.
To celebrate Kim Jong-il’s birthday, the regime has apparently also shown itself to be generous: the portal Daily NK A Pyongyang source quotes as saying that residents of the capital will be given two pairs of underwear, four bars of soap, two tubes of toothpaste, two toothbrushes, ten rolls of toilet paper and a blanket. This is more than Kim Jong-il’s 70th birthday celebrations ten years ago and the best gift package since 1992, the source said. At that time, each family received a watch with a picture of Paektusan, as well as a blanket and materials for making traditional clothing.
North Korea: Kim Jong-il’s birthday food package
According to the Pyongyang resident, the underwear in particular has now met with enthusiasm. This is of a quality that North Korea cannot produce, which is why people assumed the laundry was imported. In addition, residents of the capital received groceries, including kilograms of frozen fish, 300 grams of pork and ten eggs, as well as fruit and vegetables.
North Korea has almost completely closed its borders with neighboring China since the beginning of the corona pandemic. As a result, trade between the two countries collapsed, and the supply situation in North Korea has also been tense since then. Added to this were crop failures and natural disasters. In order not to jeopardize his power base, dictator Kim Jong-un not only relies on gifts for the elite in the capital – but also on missile tests for weeks. On the one hand, these should serve as a deterrent to the outside world and at the same time set a sign of strength on the inside. (sh)
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