No official holiday for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's birthday
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 30 November, 2014, 5:32am
UPDATED : Sunday, 30 November, 2014, 5:32am
Kyodo in Beijing
Kim Jong-un is presumed to be 31 years old. Photo: Xinhua
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's birthday will again not be celebrated as a national holiday next year, it was learned yesterday.
More than five North Korean calendars for next year obtained by Kyodo News show that January 8, Kim's birthday, remains a non holiday weekday. That raises the possibility that there will be no major official celebrations to mark the day, unlike the birthdays of his father Kim Jong-il and grandfather Kim Il-sung.
It is widely known in North Korea that the birthday of Kim, who inherited power after his father died in December 2011, falls on January 8.
But it is not yet officially confirmed which year the leader, the third in his family to rule the commonist country who is presumed to be 31 years old, was born in.
The birthdays of Kim's father and grandfather, February 16 and April 15 respectively, have both been designated as national holidays and accordingly commemorated every year with various events.
The new calendars, meanwhile, added June 19 as a national holiday, explaining that it is when Kim Jong-il "started work at the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea".
