N. Korea begins preparations for leader's birthday celebrations

SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has begun preparations to celebrate leader
Kim Jong-il's 67th birthday later this month, its state-run media said, a major
event during which North Korea usually refrains from provocations and tries to
boost internal unity.

Kim's birthday, Feb. 16, is the most important holiday in the communist state
along with April 15, the birthday of his father and North Korea's founder, Kim
Il-sung. Citizens receive free rice, fruit, daily necessities and liquor as gifts
from the leader.
This year's celebrations follow reports that Kim Jong-il suffered a stroke in
August but is quickly recovering.
Analysts expected North Korea will observe this year's celebration in calm and
refrain from military actions.
Regional tension rose sharply following intelligence assessments this week that
North Korea may be preparing to test-launch a Taepodong-2 missile that in theory
is capable of reaching the U.S. West Coast.
Intelligence officials said they spotted an object that appeared to be a missile
on North Korea's east coast, just days after Pyongyang declared it was scrapping
a non-aggression accord with the South.
Baek Seung-joo, an analyst with the state-run Korea Institute for Defense
Analyses, ruled out the possibility of provocation by Pyongyang on the leader's
birthday.
"There has not yet been enough time for North Korea to make an assessment about
the U.S. Obama administration," he said.
North Korea may try to use Kim's birthday to strengthen his control, handing out
more gifts than usual, Baek said.
Paik Hak-soon, a senior research fellow in the Sejong Institute, an independent
think tank, agreed this birthday will be observed in a usual manner, as Pyongyang
wants to show everything is normal, with Kim now healthy and in firm control of
the country after his reported stroke.
"There won't be anything special. North Korea won't try to engage in any unusual
behavior toward the outside world on the leader's birthday," he said.
In a sign that Kim's personality cult is intensifying ahead of his birthday, the
North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Thursday that senior officials
and dignitaries held a seminar on the "immortal feats" of Kim.
"The DPRK has dashed forward like the wind towards the eminence of a great
prosperous powerful socialist nation, winning victories in the fierce
confrontation with the imperialist reactionaries," KCNA quoted the participants
as saying. DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's
official name.
They praised Kim's "forced march for field guidance," referring to his increased
public inspection tours this year. He made 13 such visits in January, compared to
eight a year ago, likely intended to show the leader is healthy and focusing on
the country's economic reconstruction campaign.
Amid deep economic woes and waning outside aid, Pyongyang has set 2012 as the
target year in building a "great, powerful and prosperous nation." The year marks
the 100th anniversary of Kim Il-sung's birth.
State media said on Wednesday that young students from nationwide started a march
to Kim Jong-il's official birthplace at Mount Paekdu. The spiritual Korean
mountain along North Korea's border with China is alleged to be his birthplace,
while Soviet records show that he was born in a village in the Soviet Union,
where his father led a Soviet brigade made up of Chinese and Korean exiles, and
the family returned to North Korea in 1945 following the end of Japan's
occupation of Korea.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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