[SAND Excousive] Loyalty Oath on Kim Jong-un's 40th: Forging a New National Holiday Following Exclusion of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il's Birthdays?
In the midst of North Korea's decision to scrap the Day of the Sun and the Day of the Shining Star, recent confirmation reveals loyalty oath ceremonies took place on Kim Jong-un's 40th birthday, January 8th, across different institutions and businesses. This development hints at a push to establish Kim Jong-un's birthday as an official national holiday.
Cover of the loyalty oath document used during the ceremony at a North Korean trade institution on Kim's 40th birthday, January 8th. / SAND Institute Newsletter Team
The SAND Institute English Newsletter Team recently verified the loyalty oath document used at a North Korean trade institution on January 8th. Multiple institutions across regions confirmed administering the same oath.
According to North Korean sources, on the morning of the 8th, the first working day after Kim Jong-un's birthday, all employees of a trade institution gathered in the main hall to hold a loyalty oath ceremony. This departure from convention, where loyalty oath ceremonies are typically held on national holidays such as the birthdays of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il on the following day, underscores the significance of the event.
Reports suggest that the loyalty oath ceremony held on Kim Jong-un's birthday, January 8th, is the first in 11 years since his inauguration in 2012. Notably, such ceremonies ceased after 2012 due to instructions against them, making their revival on Kim Jong-un's birthday after 12 years significant.
Kim Jong-un, accompanied by his daughter, visits Kwangchon Poultry Farm on his 40th birthday. / Photo by Rodong Sinmun
The oath, comprising five clauses, solemnly pledges to carry forward and complete the sacred revolutionary cause pioneered on Mount Paektu with the great Kim Il-Sung-Kim Jong-il idea.
It emphasizes the signatories' commitment to politically and physically defending Kim Jong-un, adhering to his revolutionary ideology, showing absolute loyalty and obedience to his leadership, and believing and following only the Paektu bloodline to the end, becoming true loyalists.
Furthermore, it includes commitments to maintaining belief in victory with Kim Jong-un, resolutely adhering to the party's line and policy, intensifying the struggle against all forms of anti-socialist and non-socialist forces, and striving for the ultimate victory of the country's reunification and the revolutionary cause of Juche.
Sources state that "On his 40th birthday, Kim Jong-un did not have a ‘low key’ birthday but instead demonstrated his presence by holding a loyalty oath ceremony internally."
Kim Jong-un's choice to host a loyalty oath ceremony on his 40th birthday, as he begins his 13th year in power, signals a shift towards political assertiveness, departing from his predecessors' approach.
On January 8th, Rodong Sinmun reported that Kim Jong-un visited the Kwangchon Poultry Farm with his daughter, Kim Ju-ae, highlighting a parent's efforts to fulfill long-standing promises of providing 'meaty soup' and 'steamed rice' to the people, promises left unfulfilled for decades by previous generations and the Workers' Party of Korea.
North Korea scaled back on using 'Day of the Sun,' once its top holiday for Kim Il-sung's birthday. The term vanished from state media for two months, surfacing only in one article last month on the 15th. Kim Jong-un skipped visiting Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on Kim Il-sung's birthday.
Kim also requested name changes from external organizations. On the 25th, Koryo Tour, a North Korean tourism agency run by British nationals in Beijing, announced on its website the gradual phasing out of the term 'Day of the Sun,' following notification from their North Korean partners.
Therefore, it's probable that North Korea will alter or remove expressions linked to the glorification of Kim Il-sung, like 'Day of the Sun.' With loyalty oath ceremonies set to resume on Kim Jong-un's 40th birthday, the country may adopt 'sun'-related titles once used for Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il to honor Kim Jong-un.
The sources suggested Kim Jong-un's birthday might become an official commemorative day next year, eclipsing his predecessors' anniversaries.