North Korea held multiple events this weekend to mark the ten-year anniversary of Kim Jong-un taking over the country after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, praising the young dictator for “scientifically seeing through the law of the developing revolution” and his “foresight and wisdom.”
Kim Jong-il died in December 2011, according to the totalitarian North Korean government, and his son formally became the chairman of the communist Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), the only legal political entity in the country, the following April. Under Kim Jong-un, North Korea has retained its characteristic brutality, keeping thousands of people in torturous labor camps for “crimes” such as suspected Christianity or being related to someone insufficiently enthusiastic about the Kim family. North Korea has also held most of its known nuclear weapons tests under Kim Jong-un: four of them taking place in 2013, 2016, and 2017.
The anniversary – occurring despite years of rumors that Kim had died, was close to suffering a coup, or otherwise close to losing power – arrives as South Korea prepares to inaugurate President-elect Yoon Seok-yul next month. Yoon, a conservative, has vowed to restore the ties between Seoul and America that current leftist President Moon Jae-in eroded, largely by attempting, unsuccessfully, to improve relations with North Korea.
In anticipation of Yoon’s inauguration, Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong threatened to use nuclear weapons against South Korea last week. Satellite evidence surfacing last week indicated fresh activity at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, which has hosted all six bomb tests.
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim, called South Korea’s defense minister a “scum-like guy” for talking about preemptive strikes on the North, warning Sunday, April 3, 2022, that the South may face “a serious threat.” (Jorge Silva/Pool Photo via AP, File)
The largest event North Korea held to honor Kim, according to the state newspaper Rodong Sinmun, was a “national meeting” of top political leaders on Sunday in which the WPK Politburo regaled Kim with compliments for his allegedly wildly successful run at the helm of the country. The state newspaper paraphrased a speech by Politburo member Choe Ryong Hae in which he congratulated Kim for making North Korea “shin[e] as the sacred annals in which monuments to the most successful and great victories have been erected in the face of unprecedented difficulties.”
“He noted that the respected General Secretary [Kim Jong-un], by scientifically seeing through the law of the developing revolution and the demands of the times with his foresight and wisdom,” Rodong Sinmun reported, “clearly indicated the path to be followed by the Party and the country for their development by making clear the far-reaching strategy of the Juche revolution and laying down perfect action programmes and guidelines for victory.”
“Juche” is the national religion of North Korea. Roughly translating to “self-reliance,” it is an all-encompassing ideology that mandates worship of the Kim family and full compliance to their every wish. “Juche” North Korea boasts its own calendar and specific holidays honoring the birthdays of prominent Kim family members.
Choe, the Politburo member honoring Kim Jong-un this weekend, praised the latter’s “invincible leadership and fighting strength” and claimed it is “the greatest happiness of the Korean people to hold the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un in high esteem as their top leader.”
North Korea observes ten years of Kim Jong-un in power, April 10, 2022. (Rodong Sinmun)
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), another state-run outlet, reported that Kim himself said at the event honoring him that he “placed the country on the status of a full-fledged military power equipped with an all-powerful physical means of self-defense.”
Rodong Sinmun also reported on Monday that the regime held a photo exhibition to honor Kim titled “Decade of Great Victory and Change.”
“The photos show the personality of the General Secretary [Kim Jong-un] as the peerlessly great man who has led the revolutionary cause of Juche along the road of victory by creditably carrying forward the idea and cause of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il,” the state newspaper asserted. “Reflected in them is the greatness of the leadership of the General Secretary, who has strengthened the Workers’ Party of Korea into an invincible guiding force by setting forth the scientific lines and policies indicating the path ahead of our revolution.”
Kim Il-sung is Kim Jong-un’s grandfather and the founder of communist North Korea.
The article on the photo exhibition on Rodong Sinmun‘s English-language website did not feature any photos.
North Korea also held an “art exhibition” for Kim featuring “excellent art works depicting the traits of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il as the great men.”
“Among the exhibits are Korean paintings, oil paintings, woodcuts and others highly praising the General Secretary’s exploits. Oil paintings, sculptures and metal handicrafts on show represent the ardent admiration for the peerlessly great men,” state media claimed. “Many art works, giving ideological and artistic descriptions of happiness of our people and the fighting spirit of the working people who are performing miracles and feats at every socialist construction theater, are also on display at the exhibition hall.”
North Korea has already been celebrating the ten-year anniversary for weeks. In late March, Kim Jong-un appeared at a photo session to celebrate the launch of a missile that the country called the “Hwasongpho-17,” an alleged intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the country claimed was a success. The photo session featured an exhibition celebrating the past ten years in addition to the context of the new missile.
This photo distributed by the North Korean government shows what it says is a test-fire of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at an undisclosed location in North Korea on March 24, 2022. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
The festivities will precede what are expected to be much larger celebrations on Friday for Kim Il-sung’s birthday, a holiday the communist regime calls the “Day of the Sun.” South Korea’s Arirang news reported on Monday that the South Korean Defense Ministry expects a parade of tens of thousands of people to occur on Friday.
Pyongyang has typically used the occasion to debut new missiles and other weaponry intended to intimidate the rest of the world, particularly South Korea and America, which it technically remains at war against since hostilities ended in the Korean War in 1953. In the past two years, however, North Korean festivities have been largely muted in light of the ongoing Chinese coronavirus pandemic. North Korea officially claims to have not documented a single case of Chinese coronavirus within its borders, a claim few international observers believe.
During a press call last week, American Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim predicted that Pyongyang may celebrate the Day of the Sun with a “provocation” of a military nature.
“In terms of the upcoming anniversary and the provocation – provocative actions the DPRK [North Korea] may take, I don’t want to speculate too much, but I think it could be another missile launch, it could be a nuclear test,” Kim told reporters.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.