Kim Il Sung Birthday / Day Of The Sun: How Do North Korean's Celebrate Their Biggest Holiday? (2021)

Kim Il Sung's birthday, otherwise known as the Day of the Sun, is a national holiday celebrated each year on 15 April to mark the birthday of President Kim Il Sung. It also marks the start of the year in the Juche calendar, which is the North Korean calendar system meaning that this year is Juche 110. More on that next week…

Celebrations take place over a few days and include  Mass Dances, fireworks, the Kim Ilsungia Flower Festival, the Pyongyang marathon, and much more.

Firstly… a bit of a background on Kim Il Sung.

Kim Il Sung is Kim Jong Un’s grandfather and Kim Jong Il’s father. He is known as the founding father and eternal president of North Korea. He was born on 15 April 1912 in the village of Mangyongdae on the outskirts of Pyongyang.

On April 15th, you can expect a pretty good vibe in North Korea. It’s a national holiday so Koreans get the day off. They mostly spend it with family and friends. You’ll see hundreds of them in the park enjoying the spring weather, having BBQs, dancing, drinking, and just generally chilling out and having a good time. There’s often karaoke, which you can feel free to join in with, too!

Often, people will also visit sites of importance and historically related to Kim Il Sung, such as the Mansudae Grand Monuments and Mangyongdae, Kim Il Sung’s birthplace.

Some Koreans take the opportunity to visit special events that are put on during this time period, such as the circus, funfair, or Kimilsungia and Kimjongilia flower exhibition hall.

The Kimilsungia is a type of orchid flower in North Korea. It was specially bred by an Indonesian botanist. It is named after Kim Il Sung

The story goes that KIS was on a state visit to Indonesia where he visited a botanical garden. He remarked on the beauty of the new breed of orchid, and the botanist said he’d like to name it after Kim Il Sung. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing of modesties, Kim Il Sung agreed.

The Pyongyang Marathon is also held on a Sunday around the holiday as part of the celebrations. Thousands of Koreans and foreigners run through the streets of Pyongyang and compete for the gold medal, and running into a stadium of thousands of Koreans cheering you on is truly an epic feeling.


My favourite, though, has got to be the firework display they often put on in celebration of the day of the sun. thousands of Koreans gather in KIS square in the evening to watch the fireworks and it's a great end to a great day of celebrations.

#northkorea #dayofthesun #kimilsung