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N. Korea celebrates birth anniversary of late leader

Posted February. 17, 2014 06:37,   

한국어

The Korean Central News Agency of North Korea said that its leader Kim Jong Un paid a visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun at 12 a.m. Sunday in celebration of the 72nd birthday of the late former leader Kim Jong Il. His wife Ri Sol Ju and his aunt and Secretary of Workers’ Party Kim Kyong Hui who is rumored to be sick did not accompany the leader. Kim along with the military leadership paid respect to the statues of late former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in the palace and laid a wreath under his name.

In the editorial, “The great comrade Kim Jong Il is the `Eternal General Secretary` of the great nation of Baekdu Mountain,” that made the front page of Rodong Sinmun, the state-run newspaper, on the same day, North Korea emphasized “Baekdu lineage” that started from Kim Il Sung and has been passed on to Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un and pledged allegiance to them. In commemoration of Kim Jong Il’s birthday, people swore allegiance to their leader Kim Jong Un at the Central Reporting Conference that was held on the previous day in Pyongyang Gymnasium. Unlike last year, Kim attended the meeting firsthand that was decorated with slogans such as “Let’s get united and united around the great comrade Kim Jong Un” and “Let’s defend the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party led by the great comrade Kim Jong Un at the risk of our lives.”

North Korea conducted military reshuffling on Sunday. Kim Rak Gyom, the commander of the Strategic Rocket Army, an organization that commands and controls mid- and long-range missiles, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. Through the reshuffling, eight military officers including Vice Minister of the People’s Armed Forces Yun Tong Hyon were promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and 29 including Sung Hak Chol to the rank of brigadier general. North Korea has promoted generals on Kim Jong Il’s birthday to encourage the military.