PYONGYANG (REUTERS) - North Koreans placed flower baskets and bouquets below portraits of founding president Kim Il Sung on Friday (April 14), showing little sign of tension despite fears that the reclusive nation may conduct a nuclear test and the United States would retaliate.
The 105th birth anniversary of the founder is on Saturday, celebrated as the Day of the Sun in North Korea, the country's most important holiday. The North Korean regime often uses such anniversaries for displays of military prowess.
A light rain fell in the capital Pyongyang as people wearing gumboots and holding umbrellas walked past portraits of the late leader and signs proclaiming "Sun Day is the most significant event in North Korea".
A military parade is likely to be held on Saturday to mark Kim Il Sung's anniversary but government minders have not confirmed any details with visiting foreign journalists. It is likely the current leader, his grandson Kim Jong Un, will make an appearance.
Such pageantry reinforces the cult of personality around the Kim family, three of whom have ruled North Korea with a vice-like grip.
The visiting journalists saw nothing out of the ordinary in Pyongyang despite the talk of war.
However, when foreign journalists visit North Korea, their movements are closely managed and they are usually restricted to Pyongyang. Conversations with people are monitored by government"minders", who also provide translations into English.
Near the birthplace of Kim Il Sung, a pilgrimage spot for North Koreans, commuters moved briskly on and off the subway, young women holding umbrellas walked by, clasping arms, while two children in blue school uniforms shuffled down the street holding a flower basket almost their own size.
"If the enemies want to wage war with our leaders, we have nothing to fear because we will win," said Jon Myon Sop, who works at a bus station. "I know about how tensions are rising on the Korean Peninsula and how the U.S. and its puppet countries have brought their military assets to the region."
Cho Hyon Ran, a tour guide at the site, said in English: "We don't want war but we are not afraid of war because we have strong power, our country is the strongest one in the world now.
"You can see all people are laughing, all people are singing, all people are celebrating the Sun's day. We are not afraid of anything."
Pyongyang's leaders regularly threaten the USand South Korea with destruction. Technically, North Korea is still at war with the South and its ally, the US, because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty.
A US aircraft carrier group is headed to Korean waters this week amid concerns that Pyongyang may conduct a nuclear or long-range missile test and US President Donald Trump has threatened unilateral action "to solve the problem".
