N. Korea celebrates leader's birthday with health wishes

SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il turned 67 on Monday
with warm wishes for good health as his country sharpened coercive diplomacy
against South Korea while ardently waiting for dialogue with the new U.S.
administration.

Pyongyang drummed up a festive mood and citizens pledged their loyalty on the
leader's birthday, as the leader appeared to have considerably recovered from his
apparent stroke last summer.
"This February morning that beautifully ascended with our prayers, the earnest
wish running over in the heart of the millions people is the well-being and good
health of our great father," an anchor said in the Korean Central Broadcasting
Station.
But the major holiday also came with a combative message toward South Korea's
conservative government.
The North's titular head of state, Kim Yong-nam, berated the Seoul government as
"anti-unification war-mongers" and warned of "decisive action" on Sunday, the
Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
He refrained, however, from Pyongyang's usual offensive against the United States
this year, in what appeared to be a sign of its desire to mend ties with the new
U.S. government, which can induce the lifting of international economic sanctions
against it.
"We will develop our relations with countries that are friendly toward us under
the principle of independence, peace and friendship," Kim Yong-nam told a mass
gathering on the eve of Kim's birthday.
North Korea appeared to be preparing to test-launch its latest long-range missile
on its east coast, intelligence sources say.
Kim's birthday is the most important holiday in the communist state along with
April 15, the birthday of his late father and North Korean founder, Kim Il-sung.
The younger Kim took over when his father died in 1994, the first hereditary
power succession in a communist regime.
The North Korean government hands out free food, liquor or daily necessities to
citizens as the leader's gifts. Streets, bridges and residential quarters are
decorated with flowers and electric lamps while a flower festival named after the
leader and athletic events stir up the festive mood.
An "endless stream of visitors" flowed to Kim's birthplace in Mount Paekdu, the
KCNA said.
Outside experts believe Kim was born in a Soviet village in 1942.
Since his reported stroke in August, speculation has mounted over whom he will
name as his successor. Intelligence sources told Yonhap last month that Kim,
apparently driven by his health condition, has named his third and youngest son
as his successor.
The sources told Yonhap on Sunday that Kim's alleged pick of Kim Jong-un was made
at the recommendation of the leader's brother-in-law.
Jang Song-thaek, husband of Kim's younger sister and believed to be second in
power, recommended Jong-un as the North's new leader, considering the incumbent
leader's special affection for the 25-year-old, multiple sources said on
condition of anonymity.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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