Fireworks displaying over the Chuch’e Tower in east Pyongyang held on February 16, 2018 to commemorate the birth anniversary of late DPRK leader Kim Jong Il (Photo: KCNA).
Supreme People’s Assembly Presidium President Kim Yong Nam poses for a commemorative photo after meeting with an art troupe of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan at the Pyongyang Grand Theater on February 17, 2018 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun).
Senior DPRK officials watch a concert on February 16, 2018. Among those in attendance are SPA Presidium Vice President Yang Hyong Sop, Minister of People’s Security Choe Pu Il, KPA General Political Department Director VMar Kim Jong Gak, Pyongyang WPK City Committee Chairman Kim Su Gil, DPRK Vice Premier Kim Tok Hun, State Planning Commission Chairman and DPRK Vice Premier Ro Tu Chol and DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho (Photo: KCNA).
A variety of meetings and cultural events were held to mark the birth anniversary of the late DPRK leader Kim Jong Il (Kim Cho’ng-il), the Day of the Shining Star. The Union of Agricultural Workers of Korea and General Federation of Trade Unions held several events, including poetry recitals and art performances and declamation and speech events.
A gathering and induction ceremony of the Korean Children’s Union in Pyongyang on February 16, 2018 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun/KCNA).
A meeting inducting new members of the Korean Children’s Union [KCU] was held on February 16 (Friday). Gathered for the meeting were KCU representatives from the provinces and school-aged children from Pyongyang. Attending the meeting, by invitation, were Workers Party of Korea [WPK] Vice Chairman for Workers’ and Social Organizations Choe Hwi [Ch’oe Hwi], DPRK Vice Premier Jon Kwang Ho [Cho’n Kwang-ho], Education Commission Chairman Kim Sung Du [Kim Su’ng-du], officials of the Youth League and DPRK Cabinet, war veterans and merited DPRK citizens.
Youth League 1st Secretary Pak Chol Min delivers a report during a KCU meeting on February 16, 2018 (Photo: Korean Central Television).
1st Secretary of the Youth League Pak Chol Min [Pak Ch’o’l-min] delivered a report that “recalled Kim Jong Il has visited many schools and schoolchildren’s palaces, though he was very busy providing the revolutionary leadership and showed loving care so that the KCU members would grow up stoutly to be knowledgeable, moral and healthy. The history of loving care shown by the leader is being given a steady continuity on this land as there is the respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un [Kim Cho’ng-u’n].” Pak called “on the KCU members to grow up to be dependable pillars of socialist Korea true to the pledge they made before the flag of the KCU with the pride of having become a members of the glorious Kim Il Sung’s (Kim Il-so’ng’s) and Kim Jong Il’s Children Union.”
WPK Vice Chairman Choe Hwi ties a red neckerchief around a new member of the Korean Children’s Union on February 16, 2018 (Photo: Korean Central TV).
After the report, new members were admitted to the KCU and Choe Hwi led them in an oath. After this the various VIPs tied red neckerchiefs and pinned KCU badges to their clothes. KCU Members called out in response to the slogan “Let us always be ready for the socialist country” and congratulatory speeches were made.
Concert at the East Pyongyang Grand Theater on February 16, 2018 (Photo: KCNA).
Pyongyang citizen applaud during the February 16, 2018 fireworks display over the Taedong River (Photo: KCNA/Rodong Sinmun).
Fireworks over east Pyongyang as seen from Mansu Hill on February 16, 2018 (Photo: KCNA).
A dance party of DPRK college students in the plaza in front of Pyongyang Indoor Stadium on February 16, 2018 (Photo: KCNA/Rodong Sinmun).
Dance parties for college and secondary school students took place throughout the DPRK on February 16 (Friday). Parties were held around key locales in Pyongyang and in the center of provincial capital cities. In Pyongyang, the dance parties commended with the playing of the tune “We Will Holds Our General in High Esteem.” Other songs played included “Our General is the Best,” “The General Star Beyond the Clouds,” “Our Leader Loved by People,” “We Will Defend General Kim Jong Un with Our Lives” and “Thunder over Jong Il Peak.” Dance party participants “expressed the highest glory to Kim Jong Il, who provided a solid foundation for eternal prosperity of the nation and future of a socialist power with his unique idea and distinguished leadership, while dancing” and they danced with “profound reverence for the fatherly general who built a youth power without an equal on this land” and “enthusiastically danced, full of conviction that thanks to respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, the great leaders’ patriotic wishes for a powerful nation will surely come true.”
Synchronized swimming performance at Changgwang Health Complex in central Pyongyang on February 15, 2018. This annual performance was one of the only public events which late DPRK leader Kim Jong Il attended on his birthday (Photo: Rodong Sinmun/KCNA).
A synchronized swimming performance was given at Ch’anggwang Health Complex on February 15 (Thursday). Swimmers from the sports squads of the Ministry of Land and Marine Transportation and the Ministry of Fisheries, among others, gave the performance “Eternal February Song.” Attending the performance were Choe Hwi, Jon Kwang Ho, DPRK Cabinet officials and Pyongyang citizens. The demonstration began with “We Present Bouquets” and the synchronized swimmers “showed the deep reverence of the army and people for Kim Jong Il” and “made a wonderful depiction of the indomitable mental power and revolutionary stamina of the Korean army and people winning fresh victories and working miracles on all fronts for the building of a powerful socialist nation under the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea.”
The opening of the annual figure skating festival at Pyongyang Ice Rink on February 14, 2018 (Photo: KCNA).
The annual KJI birthday figure skating festival opened on February 14 (Wednesday) and closed on February 17 (Saturday). Attending the opening ceremony were Choe Hwi (in his capacity as Chairman of the National Sports Guidance Committee), Minister of Finance and DPRK Figure Skating Association Ki Kwang Ho [Ki Kwang-ho], Secretary-General of the National Sports Guidance Committee Kim Chun Sik [Kim Ch’un-sik], other DPRK Cabinet and sports officials, Pyongyangites and students. 1st Vice Minister of Physical Culture and Sports Kim Jong Su [Kim Cho’ng-su] made a speech.
Figure skating routines to “Song of February on an Ice Rink,” “Let’s Sing of the Pride of Having The General,” “Thunder on Jong Il Peak” and other tunes “showcased the daily developing ice skating technique of Korea.”
Overview of the Ice Sculpture Festival in Samjiyo’n County (Photo: KCNA).
View of pencil sketches at the 7th Annual National Pencil Drawing Festival (Photo: KCNA).
(Photo: KCNA)
The Seventh National Pencil Drawing Festival opened on February 13 (Tuesday) at the Pyongyang International House of Culture. It included “500 excellent pencil drawings created by service personnel and artists, working people of various strata, school youths and children and kindergartners across the country.” The drawings show “the boundless reverence of the Korean army and people for Kim Jong Il, who laid an eternal foundation for the building of a powerful and prosperous country, finding himself on the road of patriotic devotion for the country and the people all his life.” and “represent the fairyland-like appearance of the country where the peerlessly great men’s patriotic wishes to build a powerful country are translated into reality under the guidance of respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.” Some of pencil sketches depict the ” struggle of the Korean army and people performing miracles and innovations in every field of a great upswing.”
Stamp exhibition by the State Stamp Bureau under the Ministry of Post and Telecoms which opened on February 10, 2018 (Photo: KCNA).
View of stamps on display in an exhibition opened on February 10, 2018 (Photo: KCNA).
Kimjongilia Festival (Photo: Rodong Sinmun/KCNA).
Former WPK Vice Chairman for Sciences and Education Choe Thae Bok is given a guided tour of the Kimjonilia Festival in Pyongyang on February 16, 2018 (Photo: Korean Central Television).
The 22nd Kimjongilia Festival opened on February 13 (Tuesday). Attending the opening were WPK Vice Chairman for Propaganda and Agitation Pak Kwang Ho [Pak Kwang-ho], Supreme People’s Assembly Presidium Vice President Yang Hyong Sop [Yang Hyo’ng-sop], DPRK Vice Premier Jon Kwang Ho [Cho’n Kwang-ho], members of the Kimjongilia Festival Organizing Committee and chief functionaries and representatives of the various Korean People’s Army [KPA], Korean People’s Internal Security Forces [KPISF], WPK, DPRK Cabinet Ministries, the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan [Chongryon; Chosen Soren] and other institutions which contributed exhibitions and displays of the red hybrid begonia flower named after KJI. The theme of the festival was “Kimjongilia in full bloom in Chuch’e Korean displaying its honor as the great power.”
University students in Pyongyang give a joint performance to mark KJI’s birthday (Photo: KCNA).
The Our Classroom Literary Prize was awarded at the Youth League Hall in Pyongyang to elementary and secondary school students on February 14 (Wednesday). Among the recipients were Han Ryong Ryong [Han Yo’ng-yo’ng] of the Kang Pan Sok Senior Middle School, Ri Thae Bok [Ri T’ae-pok] of Puyong Junior Middle School in Haeju, South Hwanghae, Kim Yon Yong [Kim Yo’n-yo’ng] of Namsang Primary School in Sinu’iju, North P’yongan and 400 other DPRK students. The stories and essays included “those depicting the younger generation preparing themselves to as genuine sons and daughters of the socialist country, knowledgeable, virtuous and physically strong” and “represented the strong yearnings and intense loyalty of the school children to Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il who dedicated their all to the future of the country all of their lives and the ardent desire of the school children for the good health of respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.”
A photo exhibition opening ceremony in the lobby of the People’s Palace of Culture on February 9, 2018 (Photo: KCNA).
Photo exhibition commemorating KJI’s birth anniversary (Photo: KCNA).
A photo exhibition opened on February 9 at the People’s Palace of Culture displaying various photos of Kim Jong Il. Attending the ceremony were Pak Kwang Ho and Jon Kwang Ho and other relevant officials and cadres. The photos deal “with the revolutionary activities of Kim Jong Il who provided a solid military foundation for the country’s prosperity and the people’s happiness.” Photos document “the greatness of respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un who made sure that the revolutionary lives of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il shine forever by opening a fresh page in accomplishing the cause of immortalizing the great leaders.” Also on display are photos “showing the firm faith and will of the army and people to translate the patriotic desire of Kim Jong Il for a powerful nation into reality and the majestic feature of the revolutionary elite army firmly defending the security of the country and nation.”