N. Korea marks Kim's birthday amid economic woes and nuclear standoff

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea celebrated the birthday of its aging
leader Kim Jong-il on Tuesday, calling on people to trust him "to the end" as the
country tries to curb its deepening economic plight amid a deadlock in
aid-for-denuclearization talks.

Scores of presents and acclamations poured in from overseas, official media
reported, while performances and festivals were held to honor the 68-year-old
Kim.
On Monday, the Korean Central News Agency said senior party, army and state
officials attended a ceremony to pledge their loyalty and watch photos and films
praising their "Dear Leader" while a group of schoolchildren offered their best
wishes to him.
Kim inherited power from his father and North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, who
died in 1994. The North, which has apparently tried to lure foreign assistance
through on-again, off-again nuclear negotiations, could become the world's first
communist state to engineer a back-to-back father-to-son power transfer if Kim
Jong-il succeeds in handing the reigns to his secretive third son, Jong-un.
South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said North Korean
workers at a joint industrial park with the South took Tuesday off as it fell on
Kim's birthday, considered one of the North's biggest national holidays along
with the birthday of his late father.
"The workers will also take Wednesday off as the holiday period has been extended
on the occasion of Lunar New Year's Day" on Sunday, Chun said.
North Korea runs a massive cult of personality built around Kim and his family.
Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers' Party, said recently
in an editorial that defending them against outside threats amounts to defending
"the lifeline for a prosperous nation."
"We must follow and trust our General to the end of this world with the belief
that we will triumph no matter what happens," the editorial carried by the KCNA
said, calling Kim "the Sun brightening the future" of the state touting its
military-first policy.
The festivities in the North come as the country grapples with the aftermath of a
currency re-evaluation it conducted late last year. The reform, which knocked two
zeros off existing bank notes, reportedly sparked unrest among some regions of
the country and disrupted the already troubled economy, prompting senior
officials to apologize and Kim to sack those in charge.
Kim appears to have regained his health after a reported stroke in 2008, U.S. and
South Korean sources say, as he bolsters the number of field inspections and
rarely shies away from meeting envoys from China, which remains North Korea's
biggest benefactor and ideological ally.
In an apparent move aimed at countering the effect of U.N. sanctions, the North
has also recently taken conciliatory gestures toward its rivals and signaled
willingness to rejoin the six-party aid-for-denuclearization talks.
The North's top nuclear envoy to the talks flew to Beijing last week to discuss
their resumption while a U.N. special envoy visited Pyongyang to prod its
leadership into returning to dialogue.
North Korea says sanctions imposed on it for its nuclear and missile testing
should be lifted before it returns to the talks, claiming its activities have
been acts of self-defense against what it calls U.S. hostilities. It also says
talks aimed at formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War with a peace treaty must
also be launched.
The six-party talks, which group the divided Koreas, the U.S., Japan, Russia and
China, have not been held since late 2008.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)

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