It has been learned that North Korean Defense Commission chairman Kim Jong Il, in a recent directive issued to the party, administration and military, instructed that the use of "hwangap" or "hoegap," both Korean names for one's 60th birthday anniversary, be refrained from, and that instead "60th birthday" be used. North Korean media, in fact, use neither 'hwangap" nor "hoegap."

The directive has been issued out of a concern that the mention of "hwangap" or "hoegap" may bring about some burden on the part of the Pyongyang leadership by prompting a public call for determining Kim Jong Il's heir, according to North Korea watchers here. When Kim Il Sung observed his 60th birthday on April 15, 1972, Pyongyang officially called it not "hwangap" or "hoegap," but "60th birthday." Two years later Kim Jong Il was designated heir at the Workers' Party plenary session in February 1974.

Because the its economic plight renders it difficult for Pyongyang to colorfully celebrate both the two major events next spring; Kim Jong Il's 60th birthday on February 16 and the 90th birthday of the late President Kim Il Sung on April 15; Kim Jong Il is also learned to have instructed that emphasis be placed on the latter. Against such a backdrop, Pyongyang has decided to perform mass calisthenics dubbed "Arirang" and touted as "a masterpiece, if missed, you would regret throughout your lives," not on Kim Jong Il's 60th but on Kim Il Sung's 90th birthday. "Mass calisthenics experts are accelerating preparations for 'Arirang,' comprised with mass games and arts, that will be pompously performed in the forthcoming spring," reported the Workers' Party organ the Rodong Shimmun recently. "Unprecedented in form, scale and contents, 'Arirang' will display to mankind an incomparably beautiful and noble aspect of cultural arts." Over 100,000 people are to take part in the mass calisthenics that will be performed in the 'May 1 Stadium.' Kim Il Sung's 60th birthday celebrations saw the performance of mass calisthenics called "The Mangyongdae Hill Shone with the Sun of Hope."

North Korea nonetheless is learned to be preparing to make Kim Jong Il's 60th birthday celebrations much more splendid than his earlier birthdays. The quotas of so-called "loyalty money," allocated to trading firms and pro-Pyongyang Korean organizations and residents abroad, have been nearly doubled that of before. North Korean trading firms, engaged in processing-on-commission projects with South Korean companies, it is said, have asked their South Korean counterparts to boost orders so that they may fulfill their quotas by January next year.

(Lee Kyo-kwan, haedang@chosun.com