Seoul, April 15 (IANS) North Korea called on party members and citizens for increased loyalty to leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday, the birth anniversary of state founder Kim Il-sung, highlighting the two leaders’ shared people-centered policies.
The ruling Workers’ Party of Korea’s newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, made the call in an article as the country marks the 114th birth anniversary of founder Kim Il-sung, the current leader’s grandfather.
The newspaper said the founder’s policy of serving the people as “the sky” lives on under the current leader’s leadership, calling the people-centered approach a “perpetual political philosophy” of the ruling party and the state.
“With unwavering loyalty, (we) should uphold the ideology and leadership of respected general secretary (Kim Jong-un), who carries forward the sacred history of supreme leader (Kim Il-sung)’s” people-centered policy, the newspaper said.
The newspaper also called for greater resolve and a march toward the day when the ruling party’s top priority of improving people’s welfare is fully realized.
North Korea observes the founder’s birthday, known as the “Day of the Sun,” as one of the country’s most important national holidays, although it has refrained from using the honorific term in recent years apparently in a bid to shift the focus of loyalty to the current leader. North Korea, however, appears to have reduced its use of the honorific term for the founder’s birthday, the “Day of the Sun,” in recent years, including this year, as it seems to be shifting allegiance to his grandson, the current leader Kim Jong-un.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) separately said the Socialist Women’s Union of Korea, the Union of Agricultural Workers of Korea and other social groups have held events marking the founder’s birth anniversary, pledging allegiance to the current leader.
Youths and students were to hold an outdoor rally at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on Wednesday evening to celebrate the anniversary, according to state media.
–IANS
jk/
