Flowers are blooming across the mountains and plains of North Korea, showing off their petals. However, there is no leisure time in which to enjoy the beauty of spring.
This is because April features North Korea’s most important national holiday, the anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth on April 15th, otherwise known as the ‘Day of the Sun’. This is not a time of great joy, for it is preceded by various meetings, lectures, training and events, and that is not to mention duties imposed by ‘Arbor Day’ (April 5th), the ‘Day of Kim Jong Il’s Selection as Defense Commission Chairman’ (April 9th), and Chosun People’s Army Foundation Day (April 25th).
Launching all this, there are also inspections to check up on family loyalty to the regime. The inspection teams, convened by the provincial Party, go house-to-house in early April checking on maintenance of portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il hanging therein. If a portrait is found to be damaged or dusty, or if there is damage to the wall around it, the household is deemed to have ‘failed’ and the owner falls subject to public criticism.
Entering April, people’s units, youth and students’ groups also begin to train for celebratory ceremonies for the Day of the Sun under the timeless slogan, “Let’s prepare for the Day of the Sun with high political passion and achievement.”
Those students selected for military parades even get a ten-day break from school classes so as to dedicate themselves solely to training, while those not directly participating in a parade must instead train for the supporting ‘card section’; the use of colored cards to form images, a prominent feature of the ‘Arirang’ Mass Games in summertime. These card sections are used at every important national festival in stadiums across every province, a real staple of the North Korean regime.
The success of the display rests on the members’ unity and quick wits, of course, and therefore they must train at an intensity which briefly exceeds that of the military. Those who fail to pay attention are, naturally, highly unpopular.
Elsewhere, elementary students from 3rd to 6th grade also prepare a choral performance featuring marching with bouquets of flowers in hand.
Also, younger students of nine or ten train thier own militaristic march chanting “Socialism, communism: let’s always be ready”, for April is the time for induction into the Korean Children’s Union. On the day of the main event, the ubiquitous red scarf is given to students as they enter the first of many political organizations that will color their lives.
However, it should be noted that since the turn of the millennium the Day of the Sun has been less bright than it once was. Amidst chronic economic shortcomings, social discipline has fragmented and the children of the poor now shy away from partaking in the preparations in order to do work for the family. Unfortunately, the side effect of this is that teachers are often also the subject of criticism.
Jung Ran Lee, a 43-year old North Korean defector who was once an elementary school teacher in Onsung County, North Hamkyung Province explained to The Daily NK that this is because performances by each class are evaluated depending on the number of students able to participate, thereofore criticism was regular, being commonly caused by absences due to helping parents with trading activities.
Finally in terms of preparation, members of women’s unions must also go daily to local government offices in traditional Korean clothing to practice ‘songs of loyalty’. Only those unions whose performances pass muster may go home, meaning that some are forced to practice songs and dances late into the night, an activity which causes its own problems.
Shin Eun Kyung, a 48-year old North Korean defector from Hamheung who, like every other woman, was a member of a women’s union explained to The Daily NK that these training sessions even led to her divorce since she was unable to go to work in the market due to her time in choir training, prompting an irreconcilable fight with her husband.
Meanwhile, on April 5th, Arbor Day, people are divided into categories by work place, people’s unit or school and are mobilized to plant trees.
However, the trees are normally planted on people’s private land, and therefore around mid-May they are uprooted again as people need to use the land to plant food crops. This is why, decades later, the hills of North Korea are still bare. Arbor Day has long become a mere festivity.
On April 9, the day when Kim Jong Il’s selection as Defense Commission Chairman is celebrated, members of women’s unions and students alike must participate in ceremonial gatherings. On April 25, Chosun People’s Army Foundation Day, each household must collect items including soap, toothpaste and money to show their loyal support to the Chosun People’s Army, just another unwelcome pressure on the poor.
So, as you can see, April is ruthless to the North Korean people. For those who take part in full, the assorted preparations can leave time for less than a week of real work in the whole month! So while spring does also come to North Korea, it is not always so bright.
