N. Korea Vows to Boost Defense as Kim Turns 57

Despite widespread food shortages, North Korea was celebrating leader Kim Jong Il’s birthday with pledges to defy U.S. warnings and build up its military.

Kim turns 57 today, which now is celebrated as the Communist state’s biggest holiday. This is his first birthday since he officially became North Korea’s head of state in September as chairman of the National Defense Commission.

On Monday, 6,000 Communist officials and soldiers filled a stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, to renew loyalty to their “great leader” and his long-standing policy of emphasizing military power.

“Military issues continue to be our primary interest, and we must put utmost efforts into the defense industry to strengthen our defense stronghold to make it undefeatable,” Premier Hong Song Nam told the gathering. North Koreans, he said, should defend Kim with their lives and “prepare themselves to be heroes through human bomb attacks and soldiers ready for suicidal explosion.”

Excerpts of Hong’s speech were carried by Pyongyang Radio and the North’s Korean Central News Agency. The reports were monitored in Japan and South Korea.

The 1.1-million-strong North Korean military is considered a major security threat to the United States and Japan. It reportedly test-fired a ballistic missile in August that could reach any part of Japan. Experts say the North is expanding the range to reach parts of North America. The U.S. is demanding inspection of an underground facility in the North that is suspected of being used to develop atomic bombs.