February 16th marks Kim Jong-Il’s 69th birthday, a national holiday for North Korea. Lavish events are planned and underway for the entire week, including synchronized swimming performances, film airings, lantern hangings and parades. Traditionally on the birthdays of the Dear Leader and his father Kim Il-Sung, gift bags are given out to citizens that often comprise of candies, trinkets and foodstuffs. However, reports indicate that some provinces did not receive gifts this year, likely due to food and money shortages and a particularly harsh winter. North Koreans not receiving gifts are therefore often indifferent towards the holiday.
In South Korea, activists had a present for Kim Jong-Il too: 100,000 anti-regime leaflets launched from balloons that will float into the North and spread information criticizing the North Korean regime and the 3rd generation succession process. Citizens are generally not allowed to read the pamphlets attached to these balloons, and are required by law to turn them over to authorities as well as report anyone else who finds or reads one.
One North Korean citizen made the extremely daring move to defect to South Korea on the same date. The man avoided guards and walked across the heavily defended demilitarized zone, walking 4 kilometres across a minefield. He was seized by South Korean border guards and interrogated; I’ll post more about this if more details are provided in the future. Most regard walking through the DMZ to be a death sentence, with millions of mines deployed all over. The traditional defection route is to cross the much less guarded Chinese border to the north, and get to South Korea through alternative means.
Here’s a video of the synchronized swimming for KJI’s birthday bash from North Korea’s official Youtube page. The song is “Footsteps”, an anthem idolizing future leader Kim Jong-Un.
