N. Korean leader confers a three-day New Year holiday

North Korean people got to enjoy a three-day New Year’s holiday thanks to the “special benevolence” from its leader Kim Jong Un. Kim, who unprecedentedly bowed his head and spoke of his incompetence as leader in the New Year speech, appears to be stepping up his effort to win the heart of North Korean people further.

On Sunday, the Daily NK, a South Korea media outlet covering North Korean news, cited a source in Pyongyang and reported that a decree was made from the Workers’ Party to allow a three-day holiday for the New Year’s Day, adding that it was propagated as Kim Jong Un’s special care to recognize the achievement of the “200 Day Battle” from last year. It is customary in North Korea to observe the New Year’s Day with a twin of bank holidays for the first two days while celebrating the third day by providing support for the rural areas with a supply of compost under the title of a fight to achieve New Year’s resolutions. Even this tradition has been postponed this time. The news source said that there was no additional supply of drinks or tobacco conferred for the prolonged national holidays.

In 2014, Kim extended the New Year’s holidays by a day by promulgating an ordinance from the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly. The long-standing tradition of a two-day holiday, which had been in place through the successive regimes of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, is being fiddled with by the young leader under the pretext of “benevolence.”

It appears that the conferment of additional holidays, including the 70-day battle and 200-day battle, is a move to allay the public mood that much worsened over a series of arduous mandates from early last year. Analysists also say that Kim is in part aiming to polish his image before launching his idolization project this year.

Sung-Ha Joo zsh75@donga.com