{"id":39229,"date":"2019-01-14T14:03:59","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T05:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=39229"},"modified":"2020-01-17T09:22:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T00:22:00","slug":"internal-lectures-focus-on-why-kim-jong-un-again-eschewed-birthday-celebrations-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/internal-lectures-focus-on-why-kim-jong-un-again-eschewed-birthday-celebrations-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Internal lectures focus on why Kim Jong Un again eschewed birthday celebrations"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_39231\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-39231\" style=\"width: 556px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/01\/2019-\ub2ec\ub8252019-1-e1546850272928.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-39231\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/01\/2019-\ub2ec\ub8252019-1-e1546850272928.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"556\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/01\/2019-\ub2ec\ub8252019-1-e1546850272928.jpg 556w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/01\/2019-\ub2ec\ub8252019-1-e1546850272928-139x300.jpg 139w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/01\/2019-\ub2ec\ub8252019-1-e1546850272928-474x1024.jpg 474w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/01\/2019-\ub2ec\ub8252019-1-e1546850272928-195x420.jpg 195w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 556px) 100vw, 556px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-39231\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">North Korea&#8217;s 2019 official calendar. Image: Daily NK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Following Kim Jong Un\u2019s unexpected state visit to China, North Korea appears to have skipped any outward celebrations of Kim\u2019s birthday, echoing events last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKim Jong Un\u2019s birthday is not a national holiday,\u201d confirmed a Ryanggang Province-based source on January 7. \u201cHe has told the people that his birthday is not a national holiday and requested that officials avoid placing his birthday on their calendars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daily NK recently obtained a 2019 calendar published by North Korea\u2019s Foreign Publishing House. January 1 was designated a \u2018red day\u2019 (signifying a national holiday), while Kim Jong Un\u2019s assumed birthday, January 8, was not specifically marked at all.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSimilarly to last year, there are no signs that North Korea is making any special preparations to celebrate January 8 [&#8230;] We will continue to watch closely for any change in the situation,\u201d said South Korean Ministry of Unification spokesperson Baek Tae-hyun during a regular briefing at the Government Complex Seoul on January 7.<\/p>\n<p>Since gaining power, Kim has avoided talking about his birthday, which stands in contrast to North Korea\u2019s massive celebrations of Kim Il Sung\u2019s (Day of the Sun, April 15) and Kim Jong Il\u2019s (Day of the Shining Star, February 16) birthdays as national holidays.<\/p>\n<p>By not drawing attention to his birthday, Kim may be hoping to emphasize his image as a modest leader in an effort to garner respect from the people of North Korea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRecently the local Party Secretary attended a meeting of collective farm workers in Samsu County and emphasized Kim Jong Un&#8217;s humility,\u201d said a separate source in Ryanggang Province. \u201cHe even claimed that Kim Jong Un is a \u2018leader who has forgotten his birthday in the service of his people.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kim Jong Un\u2019s official title was deemed the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/efforts-ramp-up-to-promote-kim-jong-un-personality-cult\/\">Dear Respected Supreme Leader<\/a>\u201d at the end of 2016 after five years in office, further cementing Kim\u2019s authority as the country\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n<p>During this year\u2019s New Year\u2019s Address, Kim did not mention the words &#8220;Kim Il Sung,&#8221; &#8220;Kim Jong Il,&#8221; &#8220;Suryong&#8221; (a title referring to both leaders), or &#8220;General.&#8221; This may have been deliberate in order to emphasize independence from his predecessors, though their portraits remained behind him in frame for the duration of the speech.<\/p>\n<p>However, some North Koreans are reportedly unhappy that they\u2019re missing out on a potential national holiday. \u201cMaking it a national holiday would allow some rest and the state would likely provide everyone with a bottle of alcohol to celebrate. But the day is just a regular day, so there\u2019s none of that. Some people are a bit unhappy about it,\u201d said a source in South Hamgyong Province.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following Kim Jong Un\u2019s unexpected state visit to China, North Korea appears to have skipped any outward celebrations of Kim\u2019s birthday, echoing events last year. \u201cKim Jong Un\u2019s birthday is not a national holiday,\u201d confirmed a Ryanggang Province-based source on January 7. \u201cHe has told the people that his birthday is not a national holiday [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":39231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[645],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Internal lectures focus on why Kim Jong Un again eschewed birthday celebrations - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/internal-lectures-focus-on-why-kim-jong-un-again-eschewed-birthday-celebrations-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Internal lectures focus on why Kim Jong Un again eschewed birthday celebrations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following Kim Jong Un\u2019s unexpected state visit to China, North Korea appears to have skipped any outward celebrations of Kim\u2019s birthday, echoing events last year. \u201cKim Jong Un\u2019s birthday is not a national holiday,\u201d confirmed a Ryanggang Province-based source on January 7. \u201cHe has told the people that his birthday is not a national holiday [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/internal-lectures-focus-on-why-kim-jong-un-again-eschewed-birthday-celebrations-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-14T05:03:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-17T00:22:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/01\/2019-\ub2ec\ub8252019-1-e1546850272928.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"556\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ha Yuna\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ha Yuna\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/internal-lectures-focus-on-why-kim-jong-un-again-eschewed-birthday-celebrations-again\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/internal-lectures-focus-on-why-kim-jong-un-again-eschewed-birthday-celebrations-again\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ha Yuna\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/116bf99c9521ec70efc4b38d538f42ff\"},\"headline\":\"Internal lectures focus on why Kim Jong Un again eschewed birthday celebrations\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-14T05:03:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-17T00:22:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/internal-lectures-focus-on-why-kim-jong-un-again-eschewed-birthday-celebrations-again\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":467,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/internal-lectures-focus-on-why-kim-jong-un-again-eschewed-birthday-celebrations-again\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/01\\\/2019-\ub2ec\ub8252019-1-e1546850272928.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/internal-lectures-focus-on-why-kim-jong-un-again-eschewed-birthday-celebrations-again\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/internal-lectures-focus-on-why-kim-jong-un-again-eschewed-birthday-celebrations-again\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/internal-lectures-focus-on-why-kim-jong-un-again-eschewed-birthday-celebrations-again\\\/\",\"name\":\"Internal lectures focus on why Kim Jong Un again eschewed birthday celebrations - 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