North Korea marked the 68th birthday of its “peerlessly brilliant” leader Kim Jong-il yesterday, calling for dialogue with the US in contrast to tough talk a year ago.
Children across the impoverished nation received bags of sweets and biscuits, and the birthday has been marked by a synchronized swimming display and a festival celebrating the national “Kimjongilia” flower, state media reported.
A meeting on Monday of senior communist party, army and state officials lauded Kim “as the most outstanding political elder and the peerlessly brilliant commander of the present era.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
Kim is habitually referred to as the “Dear leader.”
In contrast to last year’s birthday, when the North threatened South Korea and vowed to defy the world with a ballistic missile launch, the tone of the meeting was softer as the hardline regime grapples with economic woes.
No. 2 leader Kim Yong-nam stressed the need to end hostile relations with the US “through dialogue and negotiations,” and noted a “steadfast” desire to improve inter-Korean relations and raise living standards.
The North’s rocket launch last April brought international censure, causing it to quit six-party nuclear disarmament talks.
It staged a second atomic weapons test in May, and the UN responded with tighter sanctions which have hampered lucrative weapons exports.
On the heels of a poor harvest, a bungled currency revaluation in November reportedly intensified severe food shortages, sent prices soaring and fueled unrest in the tightly controlled state.
Kim, who was shaken by a stroke in August 2008, is widely reported to be preparing for the eventual succession of his youngest son, Kim Jong-un.
Under pressure from ally China, the North in recent months has expressed readiness to return to nuclear talks. But first it wants sanctions lifted and a US commitment to discuss a formal peace treaty — conditions rejected by Washington.
Paik Haksoon, of Seoul’s private Sejong Institute think tank, said the North had toned down the rhetoric because it “is implementing a strategy for its survival and prosperity in the 21st century.”
“What it needs as an ‘exit’ strategy is to improve ties with the United States, Japan and South Korea, and then to get help from them to survive,” Paik said.
“North Korea needs to supply ample consumer goods to enhance the living standards of people and pave the way for becoming a ‘powerful and prosperous nation’ — as pledged,” he said.
Paik said he expects North Korea and the US to hold talks on narrowing their differences early next month, with the six-party talks resuming later in March.
Across the border, defectors and other activists launched 20,000 balloon-borne leaflets into the North denouncing Kim on his birthday.
“Our campaign is to tell our northern brothers that Kim Jong-il is not an idol but a dictator who deprived them of freedom,” protest leader Park Sang-hak told reporters as the balloons were released near the heavily fortified frontier.
Kim is the subject of an intense personality cult. Official accounts say he was born on Mount Paektu, a sacred site for Koreans, with a double rainbow and a bright star marking the event. Most analysts believe he was in fact born in Siberia, where his father was in exile from Japanese colonizers.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS