2024-07-05 08:32:39
Kim Jong-un, who ‘erased his predecessors’, has not visited Mt. Kumsusan once this year
As North Korea is accelerating the sole idolization of Chairman Kim Jong-un, the government announced on the 5th that it will closely monitor visits to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun (Kumsusan) on the 30th anniversary of the death of Chairman Kim Il-sung (July 8).
Kim In-ae, deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification, said in a regular briefing this morning, “We will continue to monitor North Korea’s movements related to Kim Il-sung’s death, including whether Kim Jong-un will visit Mount Kumsusan.”
He added, “Regarding the 30th anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s death, other than reports of the holding of a virtue announcement meeting by members of the Workers’ League and the Women’s League, there appears to be no unusual developments.”
Kumsusan is the facility where the bodies of his grandfather Kim Il-sung and his father, National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il, are laid to rest, but Chairman Kim has recently been avoiding the place as part of efforts to erase his predecessors.
In 2014, which was the 20th anniversary of the North Korean centenary (a year that is divided into 5 or 10 years), and in 2019, which was the 25th anniversary, Chairman Kim and other officials visited Kumsusan on July 8 and held a central memorial service.
Last year, on the 29th anniversary of his death, there was a labor union event on July 6, two days before, and on the same day, Chairman Kim visited Kumsusan with executives.
This year, as Chairman Kim is attempting to break free from his father’s shadow and “stand on his own,” interest in whether he will visit the shrine is growing.
Chairman Kim did not visit Mount Kumsusan even once this year, as he had visited it on important occasions such as New Year’s Day, Kim Il-sung’s birthday (Day of the Sun, April 15), and Kim Jong-il’s birthday (Day of the Shining Star, February 16).
North Korea revealed for the first time last month through a report on the Workers’ Party plenary session that officials were wearing badges with a portrait of Chairman Kim alone.
This year, the name of Kim Il-sung’s birthday was changed from ‘Day of the Sun’ to ‘April 15.’ In May, a photo of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and Kim Jong-un hanging side by side appeared for the first time in a report on Chairman Kim’s attendance at the completion ceremony of the Central Cadre School of the Workers’ Party of Korea in the Kumsusan District of Pyongyang.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported the previous day, citing a North Hamgyong Province resident, that North Korean authorities had reduced the mourning period for Kim Il-sung from five days to one day. The mourning period was gradually reduced from three years in 1994 to seven days in 2013 and five days in 2022, and appears to have been shortened to one day this time, RFA reported.
According to the Ministry of Unification, the only official report by North Korean state-run media regarding the mourning period for Kim Il-sung was that the period from July 8 to July 17, 1994, the year of his death, would be a “mourning period.”
[서울=뉴시스]
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2024-07-05 08:32:39