SEOUL: For the first time since leader Kim Jong Un took power in 2011, North Koreans were asked to take loyalty oaths on his birthday, a South Korean research institute said, amid other steps the country is taking to solidify his rule.
The loyalty oaths, which Reuters could not independently verify, were administered on what is believed to have been Kim’s 40th birthday on Jan 8, according to the South and North Development Institute (SAND), a Seoul-based organisation that released photos of the oath in an ornate folder on Friday.
North Korea has never officially confirmed Kim’s birth date, and traditionally such oath ceremonies have been held on the anniversaries of the birthdays of his father and grandfather, the nuclear-armed country’s previous rulers.
“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,” SAND said in an analysis.
SAND’s president, Choi Kyong-hui, told Reuters North Korea could move to designate Kim’s birthday as an official anniversary as soon as next year.
