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North Korea steps ups propaganda drive for former leader Kim Jong Il

By Elizabeth Shim
Chinese maintenance workers clean the North Korean embassy's display case featuring former leader Kim Jong Il in Beijing. North Korea is expected to observe the fifth death anniversary of Kim who died on Dec. 17, 2011. UPI/Stephen Shaver
Chinese maintenance workers clean the North Korean embassy's display case featuring former leader Kim Jong Il in Beijing. North Korea is expected to observe the fifth death anniversary of Kim who died on Dec. 17, 2011. UPI/Stephen Shaver | License Photo

SEOUL, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- North Korea is intensifying propaganda campaigns idolizing former leader Kim Jong Il two weeks ahead of his five-year death anniversary.

Pyongyang's state-controlled news agency KCNA reported Thursday, local time, "various countries are holding events to mark the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the death of the great Comrade Kim Jong Il."

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In the span of two weeks between Nov. 20 and Dec. 2, lectures, book exhibitions and movie screenings were held in Russia, Austria, Mali and Nigeria, North Korea said in statement.

"The exhibitions showcased books introducing the revolutionary accomplishments of the great comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and the accomplishments of the military and the people in building a strong socialist nation under the dear Comrade Kim Jong Un," KCNA stated.

North Korea also said the head of the Asia-Pacific International Relations Study Center in Khabarovsk, Russia, praised Kim Jong Il and credited him for "establishing a strong foundation for the wealth and prosperity" of North Korea.

North Korea is one of the poorest countries in the world and a recent South Korean think tank estimate placed GDP per capita for 2015 at $1,013.

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The state has channeled much of its financial resources toward the development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, but provocations have declined dramatically since the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election and large-scale protests in South Korea have increased, as activists demand the resignation of President Park Geun-hye.

Park's future remains uncertain and in the wake of a political scandal that is still under investigation, China has been virtually bypassing official South Korean diplomatic channels by holding meetings with South Korean opposition party politicians, Yonhap reported.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin met with a South Korean delegation led by Lee In-young, an opposition party politician on Monday to discuss China's resistance to THAAD, according to Beijing.

Prior to the meeting Wu Dawei, China's chief delegate to the six-party talks on the Korean peninsula, reportedly met with Shim Jae-kwon, another opposition party lawmaker to discuss bilateral issues, according to Yonhap.

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