By Sam Kim
SEOUL/PAJU, South Korea, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Wednesday celebrated one of its most important national holidays -- the birthday of leader Kim Jong-il -- as the country struggles to breathe life into its moribund economy, and at the same time, complete an improbable dynastic power succession.

   The communist country opened a synchronized swimming performance, exhibitions of Kimjongilia -- a hybrid flower named after the 69-year-old leader -- a figure-skating festival and film shows to heighten the festivities, its official media said.

   Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Cuban leader Raul Castro Ruz also sent congratulatory letters, the Korean Central News Agency said, while streets in Pyongyang were festooned with lanterns.

   This year's birthday, considered the North's most important day along with the April 15 birthday of Kim's late father and North Korea founder Kim Il-sung, is the first since Pyongyang made it official that it was engineering another father-to-son succession.

   It remains unclear what role Kim Jong-un, the third son of Kim Jong-il, may have played in organizing the festivals for his father's birthday, South Korean officials monitoring the North said.

   Kim Jong-un has often accompanied his father on public outings starting as early as January last year, according to footage released by the North's official television on Wednesday. He was first unveiled to the world as a full general in September last year.

   The North's news agency reported Tuesday that China essentially endorsed the 20-something man as Pyongyang's next leader, quoting a visiting top Chinese official as "hailing the successful solution of the issue of succession to the Korean revolution."

   On Wednesday, a group of nine South Korean lawmakers of the ruling Grand National Party joined activists at an observation post in the city of Paju just south of the inter-Korean border, floating 22 balloons containing 100,000 leaflets denouncing the Kim family.

   Little remains known about the character of Kim Jong-un. Analysts say Kim may have been picked as successor because he was considered the most fit to inherit the legacy of his father, who has advocated a military-first, or "songun," policy since he took over the regime in 1994.

   Food shortages worsened in North Korea after Kim took power. Up to an estimated 2 million died in the mid-1990s when rations were suspended, leading to a soar in the number of defectors.

   On Wednesday, a military official in Seoul said that a North Korean man in his 20's defected to South Korea this week by choosing to cross the heavily armed border between the countries. An overwhelming number of defectors come to South Korea via China.

   Since coming to power, Kim Jong-il has gone ahead with two nuclear tests and a series of missile launches, drawing tougher international sanctions on his country. Despite the economic troubles, he is said to enjoy an extravagant lifestyle associated with luxury goods, including rare tobacco and whiskey products, which his subordinates procure from abroad.

   South Korean and U.S. officials believe Kim suffered a stroke in the summer of 2008. Since then, he has sped up his plans to hand over his power to one of his sons, they say, despite the fact that no modern country has ever achieved a back-to-back hereditary power succession.

   On Tuesday, South Korean broadcaster KBS aired the footage of his second son, Kim Jong-chol, enjoying a concert by British guitarist Eric Clapton in Singapore. Kim reportedly fell out of favor for being "effeminate," according to a Japanese chef who once worked for the Kim family in Pyongyang. Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-il's first son who also apparently fell out of contention, has stayed abroad for years.

   In interviews with Japanese broadcasters, Kim Jong-nam has expressed hope that his brother would succeed in improving the welfare of the North Korean people once he took over after their father, a comment that could be seen as a jab at the Pyongyang regime.

   On Monday, South Korean Unification Ministry officials said North Korea has halved the size of Pyongyang and shed a chunk of its privileged population to apparently ease the burden of keeping the residents well-fed and loyal.

   Food shortages, already serious under sanctions imposed on the country, are believed to have deepened with tension running high between the two Koreas, especially after the North bombarded a South Korean island and killed four people in November.

   Almost all cross-border exchanges have come to a halt, and the latest defense talks between the sides, seen as a rare opportunity for a breakthrough in their relations, collapsed earlier this month.

   Analysts say the North is likely to reach out to South Korea again because it is badly in need of aid to buttress its campaign to rise to a "strong, powerful and prosperous nation" next year, which will mark the centenary of its founder's birthday.

   "North Korea is holding the birthday celebrations at a usual level, with a usual amount of rations handed out," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, agreeing with the Unification Ministry's analysis earlier.

   "It's likely the North is keeping its stocks reserved in preparation for 2012," he said. "This year, the North will focus on paving the ground for Kim Jong-un to take over next year."

   South and North Korea technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.

   samkim@yna.co.kr
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