North Korea’s Birthday Bash Steeped in Defiance Toward U.S.

As at any birthday party, there were gifts, sweets, congratulatory toasts and inspirational songs. But the North Koreans added a special touch for the 61st birthday of their leader Sunday by using the occasion to demonstrate their defiant attitude toward the United States.

In fact, events staged throughout North Korea were not so much celebrations of Kim Jong Il as political rallies, in a style similar to that of birthday parties for Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

There were art exhibitions and a flower show featuring various blooms named for the North Korean leader. People placed bouquets on monuments to him and members of his family.

The message -- clearly directed at the naysayers who might hope that the North Korean regime is in danger of collapse -- was that Kim has the full support of his people at a time when international tensions are coming to a head over North Korea’s reported development of nuclear weapons.

“The United States would not dare to invade our country because we have the almighty and powerful Kim Jong Il,” said Ri Oak Hwa, 27, a tour guide who was showing foreign visitors around Samilpo, a lakeside resort near Mt. Kumgang, on Sunday.

Kim’s birthday, along with that of his late father, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, is among the most important public holidays in North Korea. Ri said most people would celebrate with a day of leisure, visiting parks and monuments, playing traditional games and giving gifts to children.

“It is good that the children get the gifts, so that they learn who is the dear leader and that he is their king,” Ri said, offering an explanation of the indoctrination North Korea’s young receive almost from the time they’re in the cradle.

Another guide at Samilpo said that she had given cookies and candy to her 5-year-old son for the holiday and that he had placed them in front of a portrait of Kim Jong Il in their home to show his gratitude. Another North Korean said he had received a gift of ginseng and canned food from Kim.

Still another offered the most politically correct answer about how North Koreans should observe the birthday.

“We don’t need special gifts, because our dear leader gives us everything we need every day,” said Kim Dae Song, 35.

Hundreds of South Korean and other foreign dignitaries were visiting Mt. Kumgang over the weekend because of the opening of a road through the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea, and the North Koreans seized the opportunity to disseminate some additional propaganda. As the dignitaries were about to leave on a hike, an all-female brass band wearing white go-go boots and gold epaulets showed up in the parking lot to give a special birthday performance.

The dignitaries were photographed watching the band -- making it appear as though they too were celebrating Kim Jong Il’s birthday.

Such tactics are common in North Korea, but they are taking on a special urgency this year, when North Koreans are convinced that they are locked in a life-and-death struggle with the United States. Many here fear that they will become a target of U.S. military strikes after a campaign in Iraq and that a show of strength is their best defense.

“We don’t have nuclear weapons. Our nuclear weapon is strong unity among ourselves,” said Chun Moon Il, 45, who arranges music for the Pyongyang Youth Brass Band, which was playing near Mt. Kumgang.

Other North Koreans offered blustery comments that echoed the rhetoric of the official media.

“We have a saying that someone who is willing to give up his own life is capable of doing anything,” said Lim Kyung Sok, 37, a guide and the mother of a teenager. “Of course, I don’t want war. War would mean my death. But I have the feeling that we are being pushed to the point of desperation where we are ready to die.”

In an interview with Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper this weekend, North Korea’s director of energy resources, Kim Jae Rok, tried to ease international tension over the northeast Asian nation’s nuclear activities, saying his country is not making atomic weapons. But in a statement that may provoke further concern, he said North Korea plans to build four more nuclear power plants to meet the country’s “urgent need” for electricity.

In the drab villages near Mt. Kumgang, one woman said Sunday that residents anticipated they would get a full 24 hours of power for the occasion of the leader’s birthday, a rare treat in a country where people are lucky to get a few hours a week. Red and blue flags waved from dilapidated rooftops, giving a rare splash of color to the landscape.

Footage on North Korean television Sunday showed the streets of the capital, Pyongyang, decorated with lights and flags for Kim’s birthday.

The official news agency boasted that the holiday was being observed around the world.

“Celebration meetings, photo exhibitions, film shows, seminars and other multifarious functions took place in Syria, Jordan, Austria, Peru, Mexico and many other countries,” the Korean Central News Agency reported.

The official newspaper, Rodong Shinmun, delivered another of its regular doses of fierce anti-American rhetoric along with words of praise for Kim.

The newspaper said his “courage and guts” represent the country’s “firm confidence that we remain unfazed even when a huge enemy force comes in to attack us.”