It is reported that North Korea significantly reduced the mourning period for the 30th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s death from a week to a single day on July 8, following the reduction of the April event for Kim’s birthday, the Day of the Sun. If this event which also serves as the round-number anniversary is reduced, it could indicate a stronger move by Kim Jong Un to erase his predecessors.
On July 4, Radio Free Asia (RFA) cited a North Korean source and reported, “On July 2, all institutions and enterprises in the province were ordered to mourn Kim Il Sung. The instruction was to reduce the mourning period for the 30th anniversary of Kim’s death to a single day.”
The source added, “This is intended to focus loyalty on the hereditary leader Kim Jong Un who is preserving the revolutionary tradition while studying the revolutionary history of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.”
Since Kim died in 1994, North Korea has gradually reduced the mourning period after 3 years in mourning. It was 100 days in 1999, 30 days in 2000, 9 days in 2010, 7 days in 2013, and 5 days in 2022.
The news that this year’s mourning period has been reduced to one day seems to be related to the recent accelerated efforts of Kim Jong Un’s idolization.
North Korean media revealed that all executives wore badges (portrait medals) featuring Kim Jong Un’s face during the second day of the plenary meeting on June 29.
The emergence of the portrait medal is interpreted as a measure that particularly emphasizes the differentiation from the predecessors in the idolization of the North Korean supreme leader. North Korea has never revealed Kim Jong Un’s portrait medal in more than 10 years since he took power. This was related to the absence of Kim Jong Un’s unique ruling ideology, distinct from the ruling ideology of the predecessors known as the Kim Il Sung-Kim Jong ideology.
Therefore, the emergence of the portrait medal has led to speculations that his unique ruling ideology, Kim Jong Un ideology, will soon be completed and announced internally. North Korea also revealed for the first time a photo of the portraits of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un displayed side by side on the exterior walls and classrooms of the party cadre school while reporting its opening ceremony held this year. Kim Jong Un emphasized nurturing new-era cadres in his speech at the school, where it is expected that education on Kim Jong Un’s ideology will take place.
Moreover, it is believed that North Korea has changed the names of Kim Il Sung’s birthday, known as the Day of the Sun (April 15), and Kim Jong Il’s birthday, known as the Day of the Shining Star (February 16), from this year. Kim Jong Un did not visit the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun this year, where the bodies of his father and grandfather are enshrined. This is a part of the process of idolizing Kim Jong Un and erasing traces of his predecessors.
This year, North Korea is expected to focus on idolizing Kim Jong Un as a leader of unrivaled stature. It is also speculated that they will soon officially announce the Kim Jong Un ideology, followed by amending the constitution and the Workers’ Party regulations to support it institutionally.