North Korea's official media on Saturday aired a documentary pledging allegiance to its leader-in-waiting, despite otherwise low-key celebrations of the heir-apparent's presumed birthday.
The one-hour-long film shown on Korean Central TV opens with a scene from current leader Kim Jong-il's inauguration as supreme commander of the military 19 years ago, during which his father and North Korea's founder, Kim Il-sung, prompts a round of applause from the audience after demanding absolute obedience to his son. The following scenes display laudatory letters and messages from former officials of the communist nation's 1.2 million-strong military.
The documentary appears to stress the legitimacy of the ongoing father-to-son power succession across three generations by mentioning Kim Jong-il and his heir-apparent, Jong-un, side by side and in larger font than other texts. It also gives the impression that Jong-un is carrying on the tradition of revolution started by his grandfather.
South Korean officials believe Kim Jong-un celebrated his 28th or 29th birthday relatively low-key with music recitals and athletic meetings on Saturday. Open Radio for North Korea, a broadcast run by North Korean defectors for transmission into the North, cited an unnamed source as saying that the North Korean authorities had decided not to designate the birthday as a public holiday and gone into special alert for two days from Friday for fear of a public outburst of disapproval of Kim Jong-un's succession.
The younger Kim was unveiled to the world as a four-star general and later named as a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party last Septemb