Cash-strapped NKorea cuts down on festivities: reports
Cash-strapped North Korea has cut down on its main festivities to mark founding leader Kim Il-Sung's birthday to help save money.
By Agencies |
SEOUL: Cash-strapped North Korea has cut down on its main festivities to mark founding leader Kim Il-Sung's birthday to help save money in the impoverished Communist country, news reports said Sunday.
Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper for ethnic Koreans in Japan, reported on its online edition that North Korea had turned its annual "April Spring Friendship Art Festival" into an biennial event instead.
The festival, usually around Kim's birthday of April 15, has served as Pyongyang's most important fete to strengthen a personality cult around Kim's family in North Korea.
Kim's birthday is still the biggest holiday in North Korea despite his death in 1994. His son Kim Jong-Il has since ruled the country with a similarly iron-fisted approach.
Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper for ethnic Koreans in Japan, reported on its online edition that North Korea had turned its annual "April Spring Friendship Art Festival" into an biennial event instead.
The festival, usually around Kim's birthday of April 15, has served as Pyongyang's most important fete to strengthen a personality cult around Kim's family in North Korea.
Kim's birthday is still the biggest holiday in North Korea despite his death in 1994. His son Kim Jong-Il has since ruled the country with a similarly iron-fisted approach.
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