North Korea's leaders birthdays are a national holiday in the country but that is the not only reason why the people enjoy the day. Kim has been following a tradition started by his grandfather back in 1980 even before he was born where he distributed sweets to the kids below the age of 10, one kilo each. Now, that is something I would be excited as a child.
Today, Kim has mobilized several aircraft to carry sweets to the kids of the nation as the villagers exploded with joy.
After Kim Il-sung who started the tradition, the same was followed by Kims father, Kim Jong-il, who passed away in 2011, since he took over in 1994.
Another interesting note on the news is that though the birth of Kim Jong-un was on Jan 8th is known, there is confusion regarding the year of birth being 1982, 83 or 1984.
One analyst in South Korea pointed out that the tradition was nothing but an act of benevolence showered on the people to make them think that Kim is a caring and loving leader the North Korea wanted. He said, "The North (Korea) seeks to build up a personality cult around the young leader".
(AW- Anil)
