Not many presents as Kim's North Korea looks to future

Published on Wednesday 16 February 2011 15:28

North Korea urged its citizens yesterday to rally around Kim Jong Il on his 69th birthday, but the authoritarian leader apparently struggled to provide his people with promised gifts.

In the past, Kim has marked his birthday by handing out luxury items and other goods meant to cement loyalty. This year, however, there were signs the country was skimping on the usual largesse and saving up for next year's 100th anniversary of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung's birth. The North is eager to make good on its absurd promise to build a "powerful, prosperous" nation by 2012.

The North's authorities had promised to dole out a day's worth of food to its 24 million people in the days leading up to Kim's 69th birthday, but South Korean activists said yesterday that the country failed to do so.

North Korean diplomats have been asking for food aid when meeting officials in foreign countries, a South Korean intelligence official said. North Korea's food shortage is grave, and the North is looking to stockpile food to distribute to citizens next year, said the official.

For Kim's birthday in 1998, North Korean troops received Seiko watches, according to a former elite soldier who now lives in the South. The ex-soldier, who defected in 2003, also said houses, Mercedes-Benzes, Audis, Toyotas, Rolexes and other luxury goods were doled out to important officials.

This year, the gifts that get handed out may include rip-offs of luxury goods. Over the past three months, North Korean officials have bought clothing and textiles, including fake Gucci and Armani suits, in bulk from Beijing's Silk Street market, a person with direct knowledge of the transactions said.

Still, the North's propaganda machine was busy yesterday, calling for loyalty to Kim.

The head of parliament told a national meeting on the eve of Kim's birthday that all North Korean soldiers, officials and people "should remain loyal to the monolithic leadership of Kim Jong Il" and build a "great, prosperous and powerful nation."

Kim's birthday is one of the most important holidays in North Korea, along with the birthday of his father, the country's founder Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Il took over after his father died of heart failure in 1994.

Kim suffered a reported stroke in 2008 and is apparently moving to hand over power to his third and youngest son, Kim Jong Un, who is believed to be in his late 20s.

In the capital Pyongyang, streams of uniformed soldiers, citizens and children offered bouquets of flowers and bowed before a giant statue of Kim Il Sung.

"We are greeting the 16th of February, an important holiday in our country, completely sure that the day of becoming a powerful and prosperous country ... will definitely come, under the leadership of our respected General Kim Jong Il," Yun Kum Sun, a Pyongyang citizen, said at Mansu Hill, which overlooks the city.