A significant percentage of North Koreans failed to attend commemorative events for the 22nd anniversary of founder Kim Il Sung’s death on July 8. Surprisingly, however, the lack of punitive percussions suggests a broader shift in attitude further up the ranks.
This is the 5th year Kim Jong Un has overseen the milestone. Authorities are said to have shown no particular response to those who, rather than participate in and prepare for the commemoration, paid bribes or used their connections to work in the markets before and during the holiday.
“The Party organizations from each province, city, and county did survey state factories in their respective jurisdictions the day prior to the commemoration,” a source from North Hwanghae Province said, “but this was merely a formality. Nobody was penalized, nor was there any allusion to the possibility [that someone could be].”
Likewise, the mood was markedly different on the day of the anniversary this year. With the exception of people lining up to pay floral tributes in the morning hours, there were no special political happenings. People instead spent the afternoon and evening drinking and laughing– just like any other day, according to the source.
“This,” he added,” is a complete departure from the father’s (Kim Jong Il) days.”
Following Kim Il Sung’s death in 1994, North Korea designated July 8 as the ‘nation’s biggest day of mourning’ and organized a number of different remembrance festivities to mark the occasion: visiting revolutionary sites, studying at revolutionary research centers, attending lectures, holding gatherings and music performances for remembrance, offering up flowers at the Kim Il Sung statue, and watching related movies.
The state also banned drinking, singing, and listening to music to cast a somber mood over the occasion. Markets and restaurants were often closed to encourage complete fixation on memorialization efforts, and failure to show up to the events warranted draconian punishments–in some cases, dismissal from the Party.
The Kim Jong Un era marks a clear change of tack in this domain. Penalization for abstaining has diminished to practically the point of disappearance, indicating a young leader that, in some respects, seeks to approach things from a different perspective than that of his forebears. Some assert that as his confidence in his leadership grows, so, too, will the distance tethering him to his father and grandfather.
“The commemoration this year put more emphasis on ‘uniting under the Marshal’s (Kim Jong Un) leadership’ and supporting Kim Jong Un; it wasn’t at all Kim Il Sung-centric,” a different source in South Hwanghae Province explained.
Moreover, exhausted from successive mobilizations and keen to avoid “tiresome, repetitive political spectacles,” the public is increasingly impelled to respond in kind, she concluded.
