N. Korea celebrates leader's birthday amid health concerns, military tension

(ATTN: RECASTS headline; UPDATES with leaflet campaign, Clinton's upcoming visit,
missile activity)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il turned 67 on Monday
amid lingering skepticism about his health, as his country sharpened combative
diplomacy against South Korea while trying to draw the new U.S. administration to
the dialogue table.

The nationally celebrated birthday also comes on the coat tails of reports on
Pyongyang's suspected missile activity and growing speculation about Kim's
successor.
Pyongyang drummed up a festive mood and citizens renewed pledges of loyalty on
the leader's birthday, according to reports, with Kim appearing to be back in
full charge after a reported 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," said an anchor on the Korean Central Broadcasting
Station.
The celebrations coincided with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's first
trip abroad since taking office. She will arrive in Seoul on Thursday, with North
Korea's nuclear program high on the agenda.
Clinton urged North Korea not to "threaten the stability and peace" of the region
before starting her four-nation Asia trip last week, but Pyongyang made clear on
Monday that it will go ahead with what the intelligence community believes is a
long-range missile test.
Claiming its latest activities are related to "space development," the North's
official Korean Central News Agency said, "One will come to know later what will
be launched in the DPRK." DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, the North's official name.
The North made a similar claim in 1998, claiming a rocket it launched was
actually a satellite.
Military tension along the inter-Korean border remained high as North Korea
intensified verbal threats against Seoul's conservative Lee Myung-bak government.
On the eve of the holiday, the North's titular head of state, Kim Yong-nam,
berated the Seoul government as "anti-unification war-mongers" and warned of
"decisive action."
He refrained, however, from issuing Pyongyang's usual offensive against the
United States, in what appeared to be a sign of its desire to forge ties with the
Barack Obama administration.
Improved relations with Washington would open doors to large economic assistance
for Pyongyang and better ties with the international community.
"We will develop our relations with countries that are friendly toward us under
the principle of independence, peace and friendship," Kim Yong-nam said.
Warm wishes for good health and hero-worship abounded on the leader's birthday,
but just south of the border, he was dubbed "the most vicious dictator and
murderer" as activists planned to send anti-Kim leaflets into North Korea.
"The wind is not good, but we will send some 20,000 leaflets as a symbol," Park
Sang-hak, a North Korean defector and head of Seoul-based Freedom Fighters for
North Korea, said as his group brought about 300,000 leaflets to the Imjingak
pavilion near the western border to be flown with gas-filled balloons.
With the propaganda campaign certain to provoke Pyongyang, the Unification
Ministry called for restraint and warned of potential consequences.
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 gifts from the leader. Streets, bridges and residential quarters are
decorated with flowers and electric lamps, and 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 actually 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,
Kim Jong-un, as his successor.
North Korea also holds parliamentary elections on March 8, an important vote that
Seoul analysts say may lay the groundwork for the post-Kim era.
Kim's military shakeup last week, in which some of his close confidantes were
promoted, was also seen by many as a sign of the leader assembling his aides
ahead of his choice of a successor.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)