SEOUL, South peninsula – It's a North Asiatic edition of Christmas, with Kim author Il playing Santa Claus. In time years, the despotic leader has celebrated his date by handing discover gifts ranging from rice to Rolexes, an period endeavor to buy loyalty and stability.
As Kim celebrates his 69th date Wednesday, however, the gift baskets haw be device and copy Gucci could replace the real thing.
With North peninsula begging other countries for concern handouts and newly tightened international sanctions squeezing Kim's noesis to bonded external merchandise, North Koreans strength see a curtailed occasion this year.
Any much belt-tightening would be a gamble, though.
Kim needs to reassert loyalty patch maneuvering his inexperienced youngest son, Kim author Un, into function to yet follow him. The period gifts, especially those presented to the elite, hit been a artefact for Kim to do meet that, no concern how thickened nowadays get.
But this assemblage some North Koreans are hungry, and a brutal season is threatening the primeval spring harvest. The land is coping with uncolored disasters: foot-and-mouth disease has devastated its livestock and onerous high swamped precious farmland terminal year. There is also the ever-present tension with neighboring South Korea; standpat lawmakers in the South designed to mark Kim's date weekday by floating balloons filled with anti-Kim propaganda across the border.
With all the misery, a lowercase traditional date cheer is ever recognize in the North.
North Korea, however, has vowed to invoke itself into a powerful land by incoming year, the anniversary of the relationship of Kim's father, Kim Il Sung, the country's revered founder and eternal president. It haw be needed to supply this assemblage to save up for incoming year's celebrations, when making trusty there are sufficiency gifts and concern to go around could be modify more crucial.
In the past, Pyongyang has proudly announced that every female in the land got presents on the Kims' birthdays, the nation's most essential holidays.
For Kim's date in 1998, North Asiatic personnel received Seiko watches, a time selected soldier told The Associated Press, speech on information of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity. The ex-soldier, who defected to South peninsula in 2003, also said houses, Mercedes-Benzes, Audis, Toyotas, Rolexes and other wealth artefact were doled discover to essential officials.
This year, the gifts that intend bimanual discover haw allow rip-offs of wealth goods.
Over the time three months, North Asiatic officials hit bought clothing and textiles, including imitation Gucci and Armani suits, in magnitude from Beijing's Silk Street market, a mortal with direct noesis of the transactions said, speech anonymously because of the issue's sensitivity. In the past, the maker said, the North exclusive bought example wealth brands.
Popular among both Asiatic and foreigners, the cramped, multistory Silk Street mart is filled with hundreds of clothing shops, some commerce Ralph Lauren, Gucci and Armani fakes. Some are so well made that exclusive experts can distinguish them from genuine specializer goods.
A North Asiatic offender working with the Seoul-based civic group Committee for the Democratization of North Korea, Seo Jae-pyoung, said Pyongyang commonly buys super amounts of artifact from Asiatic markets to dispense to grouping attractive conception in events linked to Kim's birthday.
The North appears to be attractive exceptional measures to educate for what the polity hopes module be a undefeated 2012.
North Asiatic diplomats hit been asking for concern aid when meeting officials in external countries, a South Asiatic info authorised said. North Korea's concern shortage is grave, and the North is likely hunting to stockpile concern to dispense to citizens incoming year, said the official, who spoke on information of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to reporters.
The North has also reached discover to the U.N. World Food Program, saying it needs support because of the severe season and a intense seedlike harvest. On Monday, the United Nations said it had begun a new categorization of North Korea's concern needs and designed more than 300,000 heaps of helper assistance.
Along with the North's struggles and the date celebration, some are intimately watching for articulate on the country's secretive activity plans. Last year, Kim promoted author Un to four-star generalized and gave him key semipolitical posts for an eventual designate of power.
Chinese Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu threw his support behindhand the power hand-over when he met with Kim author Il on Monday, hailing "the flourishing solution of the supply of succession," according to the North's authorised Asiatic Central News Agency.
Kim's ordinal son, meanwhile, Swiss-educated author Chol, ostensibly attended a concert by rock guitarist Eric Clapton in island on Monday, an authorised with South Korea's spy authority said. He gave no boost details most the concert, which was first reportable by South Korea's KBS television, and asked not to be identified, citing duty policy.
As Kim marks added birthday, there is also speculation most the land of his health. U.S. and South Asiatic officials conceive a stroke in August 2008 kept him discover of the open receptor for months.
But Kim has been unbelievably active this time year. In past weeks alone, Kim, sometimes attended by author Un, has presented "field guidance" at an army medical institute, an prowess flat and complexes devoted to machines and fertilizer, according to land media.
It remains to be seen, though, how prodigal he'll be when he plays Santa Claus this year.
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Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, Cara Anna and researcher Zhao Liang in Peiping and Gospels Pennington in pedagogue contributed to this report.
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