 North Korean leader Kim Jong-il watches a worker slices meat at a food processing plant in Pyongyang, North Korea’s Central News Agency reported Friday without mentioning the exact date of the visit. Yonhap |
By Park Si-soo
Chuseok is one of the biggest national holidays celebrating the harvest in both South and North Korea, but there are many differences when it comes to the rituals of each side.
In the South, millions of people hit the road to visit their ancestors’ graves, bowing before an altar displaying fresh food, and conducting other ceremonial rites with long-separated relatives on Chuseok. This year, it falls on Monday.
In the destitute North, people skip events involving food as a necessary item, according to North Korean defectors and experts in Seoul.
Also, graves of the founding members of North Korea and relatives of “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il are regarded as must-visit places for ordinary citizens during the holiday.
Many high-ranking officials of the Workers’ Party and the military lay wreaths or bouquets at the tomb of Kim’s grandparents, including Kim Bo-hyun and Lee Bo-ik, on Chuseok.
“The North Korean regime takes advantage of Chuseok to idolize its leader Kim and his family,” said Lee Yoon-gul, president of the North Korea Strategic Information Service Center (NKSIS).
“The graveyard for his family members is separate from those for key contributors to the regime.” Until the late 1980s, Pyongyang didn’t acknowledge traditional holidays, including Chuseok and Lunar New Year’s Day, in the belief that varying family rituals during the holidays would spoil the principle of equality in the totalitarian state.
The North has acknowledged Chuseok since 1988 and Jeongwol Daeboreum, a traditional holiday that celebrates the first full moon of the New Year, since 2003.
North Korea’s biggest holidays are the birthdays of its current leader Kim Jong-il, Feb. 16, and his late father Kim Il-sung, April 15. One day before and after these days are declared national holidays to emphasize their significance, experts say.
Some North Korean media outlets have demanded that the authorities add the birthday of heir apparent Jong-un, Jan. 8, to the list of national holidays.
Current leader Kim’s birthday was acknowledged as a national holiday in 1976, two years after he was formally declared successor to his father. His birthday was declared the biggest national holiday of North Korea in 1995.
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