North Korea marks Kim Il's 65th birthday

North Korea today marked the 65th birthday of leader Kim Jong Il amid progress in ending its nuclear programmes and lingering speculation abroad over who will eventually succeed him.

Mr Kim’s birthday is one of North Korea’s most important holidays and one in which the personality cult inherited from his father, the country’s founder Kim Il Sung, is arguably the most visible.

North Koreans usually receive benefits such as extra food, but it remains unclear whether the country can do that this year, given chronic food shortages and UN sanctions imposed over its October 9 nuclear test.

“Holidays in North Korea mark occasions on which the leadership is obligated to show tangibly its ability to care for the people,” said Scott Snyder, a senior associate at the Asia Foundation.

The North Korean “leadership will be able to perform at a higher level in this area” amid reduced tensions with the international community following this week’s nuclear agreement, Mr Snyder added.

In a breakthrough deal reached in Beijing on Tuesday, the hard-line communist regime agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor and allow UN inspectors back into the country within 60 days.

In return, the energy-starved country would receive aid equal to 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil from the other countries participating in the six-party talks - the United States, South Korea, Russia, China and Japan.

Mr Kim hasn’t yet publicly named a successor, prompting speculation abroad about who might eventually take the reclusive country’s helm and whether Mr Kim will designate one of his sons as the North’s next leader – continuing the world’s only communist dynasty.

In the run-up to today’s celebration, North Korean media have reported a festive mood in the country, with arts performances as well as exhibitions in Pyongyang, the capital, of the Kimjongilia – a red flower cultivated to bloom around Mr Kim’s birthday.