North Korea lashed out at the South Korean media on Sunday for being insufficiently enthusiastic about anniversary celebrations for nation founder Kim Il-sung. | Norks are peeved at just about everything, aren't they... |
In a statement, a spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland denounced the South Korean government for letting the media get away with reports that portrayed the lavish festivities as inappropriate at a time of food shortages and increasingly belligerent rhetoric in the North.
North Korea is getting increasingly frantic in attacks on the South Korean press, which has conspicuously ignored calls to respect the regime's elusive "dignity."
| I recall Saddam was demanding that everyone respect his dignity as well... |
Since last week, various kinds of events have been held, including an art festival, a Kim Il-sung flower festival, and a national sports festival. The official Rodong Sinmun even shunted the bellicose rhetoric of editorials from the front page to the back pages and reduced their length.
On Sunday, the North Korean government, party and military leadership solemnly marked the occasion of Kim Il-sung's 101st birthday. Kim Yong-nam, the chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, stressed the need to "increase the stockpile of nuclear weapons and engage in a more resolute confrontation against the U.S. to cope with a warlike situation."
Leader
No military parade is expected this year. A Unification Ministry official said, "Last year, the regime carried out an unprecedented parade because of the symbolic nature of the Kim's 100th birthday, but normally there are no parades" on the anniversary.
| Yeah, yeah, whatever... |