North Korea celebrates founding father Kim Il-sung

Pyongyang fired off a rocket ahead of the last anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s birth – the centennial – but this time the day was simply the start of a two-day holiday, with Pyongyang residents spilling into the streets.

In the capital yesterday, girls in red and pink jackets skipped along festooned with celebratory banners and flags.

There was no sense of panic in Pyongyang, where very few locals have access to international TV and radio broadcasts and foreign newspapers speculating about an imminent missile launch and detailing the international diplomacy under way to try to rein North Korea in.

Elsewhere in the region, however, the focus remained on the threat of a launch. In Seoul, South Korean defence minister Kim Kwan-jin told a parliamentary committee that North Korea still appeared poised to launch a missile from its east coast. He declined to disclose the source of his information.

US Secretary of State John Kerry again warned North Korea not to conduct a missile test, saying it would be provocation that “will raise people’s temperatures” and further isolate the impoverished people.

Officials in South Korea, the United States and Japan say intelligence indicates that North Korea, after an underground nuclear test in February, appears ready to launch a medium-range missile.

The North has already been made the subject of strengthened UN sanctions for violating Security Council resolutions barring the regime from nuclear and missile activity.

North Korea has warned that the situation has grown so tense it cannot guarantee the safety of foreigners in the country and said embassies in Pyongyang should think about their evacuation plans. But British Foreign Secretary William Hague said yesterday that although there is reason for concern over the “frenetic and bellicose” rhetoric, Britain believes there has been “no immediate increased risk or danger” to those living in or travelling to North Korea.

While concerns over North Korea continued to dominate headlines abroad, Pyongyang’s own media gave little indication of how high the tensions are.

The Rodong Sinmun, the Workers’ Party newspaper, featured photos and coverage of current leader Kim Jong-un’s overnight visit to the Kumsusan mausoleum to pay respects to his grandfather. There was only one line at the end of the article vowing to bring down the “robber-like US imperialists.”

Kim Jong-un has renovated the memorial palace that once served as his grandfather’s presidential offices. The complex opened to the public yesterday, the vast cement plaza replaced by fountains, park benches, lawns and tulips.

Starting from early morning, residents came from all parts of Pyongyang to lay flowers and bow before the bronze statues of Kim and his son, late leader Kim Jong-il, as the mournful Song of General Kim Il Sung played over and over.

Their birthdays are the most important holidays of the year in North Korea, where reverence for the Kims is drummed into people from an early age. The largest basket of flowers at Mansu Hill was from Kim Jong-un – the elaborate offering was cordoned off with ropes.

Many stopped at food stalls set up at the base of Mansu Hill to warm up with tea and snacks. They queued at roadside stands for rations of peanuts, a holiday tradition.

“Although the situation is tense, people have got bright faces and are very happy,” said Han Kyong Sim, who works at one of the stands.

Later, as the day warmed up, scores of young women in a rainbow of sparkling traditional dresses thronged the car park outside Pyongyang Indoor Stadium for North Korea’s version of square dancing.

Yesterday marked the official start of the new year according to North Korea’s “juche” calendar, which begins with the day of Kim Il-sung’s birth in 1912.

North Korea is believed to be saving its parades and big parties for 27 July, which is the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, and September, which marks the 65th anniversary of the founding of the nation.