{"id":2948,"date":"2018-04-15T04:56:01","date_gmt":"2018-04-15T11:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=2948"},"modified":"2018-04-15T05:04:10","modified_gmt":"2018-04-15T12:04:10","slug":"north-korea-marks-late-founders-birthday-with-no-signs-of-any-provocations-the-japan-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=2948","title":{"rendered":"“North Korea marks late founder\u2019s birthday with no signs of any provocations”, The Japan Times"},"content":{"rendered":"
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AFP-JIJI, Kyodo, April 15, 2018<\/p>\n

PYONGYANG \u2013 <\/span>North Korea on Sunday marked the 106th anniversary of the birth of its late founder Kim Il Sung with no signs of provocations toward the international community amid a reduction in tensions following Pyongyang\u2019s shift toward diplomacy.<\/p>\n

The anniversary, known in the country as the \u201cDay of the Sun,\u201d is a major holiday. National flags and placards have been placed along major streets of Pyongyang in celebration of the birthday of the founder, who died in 1994.<\/p>\n

In the run-up to North Korea\u2019s planned summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump, political slogans in public spaces made no mention of the country\u2019s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.<\/p>\n

The nation\u2019s leader, Kim Jong Un, grandson of Kim Il Sung, is expected to talk about denuclearization with Moon on April 27 and Trump at a summit to be held possibly by the end of May or in early June.<\/p>\n

As on past anniversaries, citizens and military personnel laid flowers and bowed before giant statues of the founder and his son, Kim Jong Il, the previous leader who died in 2011, on Mansu Hill in the heart of Pyongyang from early morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does not matter how the international situation changes. I am determined to offer everything to pave the way for building a powerful Korea,\u201d Yang Yong Ae, the 50-year-old employee of the Sports Ministry, said.<\/p>\n

Plentiful \u201cKimilsungia,\u201d a purple flower of the orchid family named after Kim Il Sung, were on display in hotel lobbies and other places. The bloom was created in Indonesia.<\/p>\n

At an annual exhibition featuring about 24,000 roots of the purple flower, there were no replicas of satellite-carrying rockets or missiles, unlike on previous anniversaries.<\/p>\n

Missiles and rockets \u201cdo not fit this year\u2019s theme\u201d of the festival, Kim Ji Sung, a 24-year-old Japanese-speaking guide, said, calling the theme \u201cKimilsungias in full bloom with yearning for our leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Korea has also held a series of sports and cultural events over the last few days.<\/p>\n

On April 8, around 600 foreigners participated in a marathon in Pyongyang organized for the commemoration.<\/p>\n

On Friday, a Chinese art troupe led by a senior Chinese Communist Party official arrived in North Korea.<\/p>\n

Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un\u2019s sister and close aide who serves as the first vice department director of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers\u2019 Party, greeted the delegation at Pyongyang International Airport.<\/p>\n

On Saturday the troupe gave its premiere for the April Spring Friendship Art Festival, a biennial event held to celebrate the Day of the Sun, state-run media reported.<\/p>\n

First lady Ri Sol Ju enjoyed a ballet performance with Kim Yo Jong and other senior party and government officials, the Korean Central News Agency said.<\/p>\n

North Korea has intensified diplomatic efforts recently.<\/p>\n

Late last month, Kim Jong Un held a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing during his first foreign trip since becoming North Korea\u2019s leader following the death of his father.<\/p>\n

Kim promised Xi that Pyongyang will move forward with denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, while the two leaders agreed to promote cultural exchanges, according to China\u2019s Xinhua News Agency.<\/p>\n

Inter-Korean relations, meanwhile, have been improving since the North decided to take part in the Feb. 9-25 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics hosted by the South.<\/p>\n

The Japan Times<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFP-JIJI, Kyodo, April 15, 2018 PYONGYANG \u2013 North Korea on Sunday marked the 106th anniversary of the birth of its late founder Kim Il Sung with no signs of provocations toward the international community amid a reduction in tensions following Pyongyang\u2019s shift toward diplomacy. The anniversary, known in the country as the \u201cDay of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2948"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2951,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2948\/revisions\/2951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}