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David Guttenfelder / AP
North Koreans gather to put flowers on a stage in front of a portrait of Kim Jong Il as they pay their respects on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on Monday.
PYONGYANG, North Korea - Bundled up against the freezing cold, soldiers and children lined up Monday at Pyongyang's main plaza to pay their respects again to late leader Kim Jong Il.
It was North Korea's unique way of marking the lunar New Year which was celebrated in China and elsewhere in the region with fireworks.
A massive portrait of Kim that had been taken down after a mourning period following his Dec. 17 death was back up at Kim Il Sung Square.
People scurried across the vast plaza to get in line to bow and lay single red flowers, the late leader's namesake "kimjongilia" begonias, made of fabric. The song "It's snowing" blared from the loudspeakers, a reminder of Kim's solemn funeral procession through the capital city's snowy streets late last month.
There was an elaborate and dramatic farewell Wednesday for Kim Jong-Il, the leader of one of the most isolated places on earth: North Korea. He died 10 days ago, and as his nation paid its final respects, the eyes of the world were on his young, untested successor. NBC's Adrienne Mong reports.
For several weeks after the funeral, Pyongyang was barren and somber. But almost overnight the city has filled with color again. North Korea's red, white and blue national flag fluttered from signposts. Banners celebrating "Juche 101" — the current year, according to the North Korean calendar, which begins with the 1912 birth of national founder Kim Il Sung — and posters marking the holiday were pinned to buildings and walls.
At the plaza in front of the Pyongyang Grand Theater, hundreds of children scampered and shouted as they played traditional Korean games in frigid temperatures. Signs in front of the theater spelled out "We are happy" in big, bold letters.
Pyongyang residents said they were encouraged to celebrate the traditional holiday as they usually do, despite the death of Kim Jong Il, only the second leader North Koreans have known since the nation was founded in 1948. State television aired a segment late Sunday on making rice cake soup, a traditional New Year's meal in both Koreas.
The holiday comes as new leader Kim Jong Un makes a round of visits to military units.
Outside observers have raised questions about whether Kim Jong Un — who's believed to be aged in his late 20s — is ready to rule a country of 24 million with a nuclear program as well as chronic food shortages.
But the North has dismissed such worries, and state media have put out a stream of reports and images meant to show that Kim has strong military and governing experience. Late last week, for example, North Korea credited Kim Jong Un with spearheading past nuclear testing and said he was "fully equipped" with the qualities of an extraordinary general.
Kim Jong Un, anointed his father's successor at least three years ago, was declared "supreme leader" of the North Korean people, party and military after his father's death. He has pledged to uphold his father's "military first" policy.
The new era of leadership comes as North Korea prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary in April of the birth of his grandfather, late President Kim Il Sung.
The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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The N.K. government hates America, but still loves American automobiles!
and lobsta!
Nonsense. Nothing but nonsense.
Agreed. North Korea is like something out of a wacked out scifi movie.
Small, ugly, and - inexplicably for fake flowers - completely insane.
He should have a flower named after him, because he was a blooming idiot.
good one, WAHO!
China & Russia should be totally ashamed for standing behind this country run like a personal household by three generational family of phsycopaths. I thought "communism" was ruling by people's committee, not a single family oligarchy, We all know communism, since the Russian Revolution stolen by Stalin from the bolsheviks, means nothing less than enslavement. But even the Russian people and the Chinese people have thrown away that ideological nonsense. Russia is just plain corrupt, run by Putin, who hopefully will get his ass kicked out and China just keeps giving people the right to make money as long as they don't question the ruling party, which, will evenutally lead to, is already leading to, political change. It is just a matter of time. But these two countries still stand behind this pathetic North Korean family, who, as one of the not in favor and not in the country sons said, "North Korea, to the rest of the world, is a joke.." Unfortunatley for the enslaved poplulace who live there, it is not a joke and Russia and China support this.
Communism was stolen by lenin. For a few months everybody had their own local committee (a "soviet" in russian) and they were pretty democratic (like local power tends to be). Then lenin came home, held one congress ("union of soviets") then used his thugs to kill anybody who opposed his takeover. This is when the "red army" fought the "white army" and we know who won that one.
Do North Koreans REALLY know that they are a hated regime with a very low standard of living BECAUSE of that hated regime?? Or are they just pretending for the cameras???
With absolute total control of the media, the NK government has the populace believing that they live in paradise...and that any problems the country may have are strictly the fault of other countries.
Ha, they are pretending because if they don't act accordingly, they will go to labor camps. This is what happened to the ones that did not cry during Kim's funeral. They got 6 months in hard labor camps. What an idiotic government. Many Northerners in Korea have relatives in South Korea and they visit sometimes. I am sure they tell them how good it is in South Korea, but most can not escape. If caught trying to escape they get shot.
2 + 2 = 5 if you want to live. (reference the movie "1984")
Oh how pretty!
Next year the flower will be a box of Ho-Ho's for the dead dictator's son who took power
Or Twinkies for that fat pig.
Doesn't it make the American Public feel better that Mitt may win and then decide if we should support South Korea after he and Kerry decide not to but maybe they will!
That made no sense at all!
xx
Rice cake soup and tree bark we never had it so good!!!!!!!!!!
It must be sad to be a North Korean who manages to get out of the country to find that everyone thinks your homeland is a joke....
If you're an NK that risks escaping, you've already figured it out.