Rodong Shinmun, the Chosun Workers’ Party’s daily propagandist publication, has published a list of what the Party sees as the biggest events of 2012, citing the elevation of Kim Jong Eun to the twin positions of Workers’ Party First Secretary and National Defense Commission First Chairman as the most important events of all.
2012 was, the piece declares today, “The historic year when the Juche 100s began,” one that saw “a great many events that lit up the 5000-year history of our people.”
Other important events of the year include the renaming of Kim Jong Il’s birthday on February 16th as “Day of the Shining Star (Gwangmyungsung Day)” and the renaming of Kim Il Sung’s former offices, which are now his and Kim Jong Il’s mausoleum, as “Geumsusan Palace of the Sun.”
Then there is the declaration of Kim Jong Il as “Eternal General-Secretary (of the Workers’ Party)” on April 11th and “Eternal Chairman (of the National Defense Commission)” on April 13th, not to mention the military parade and Party Central Committee reporting convention that commemorated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung on April 15th.
Interestingly, a joint exhibition held in New York in March by Chosun Central News Agency and the American news agency Associated Press, which agreed to take part in the event as part of an agreement that allowed the news agency to open an office in Pyongyang, is also listed as an important event, one that “caught the attention of the international community and caused a stir worldwide.”
Naturally, events that involved mass participation and which Kim Jong Eun attended or was otherwise closely associated with are also prominent in the list. This includes the commemoration of the founding of Chosun Children’s Union on June 6th and the 4th National Mothers’ Meeting on November 16th.
Finally, there is also a mention for the “successful launch of the second version of Gwangmyungsung-3,” which, the piece claims, “showed the world the immense power of the great country of Mt. Baekdu.”
