Major events for N.Korea's late founding leader's birth anniversary

Seoul, March 24 (IANS) North Korea plans to hold various large-scale celebratory events, both online and offline, on the occasion of the 110th birth anniversary of its late founding leader next month, Pyongyang's state media announced on Thursday.

The North will hold a major spring festival in Pyongyang with magic shows and performances by art troupes around mid-April to commemorate Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un, on April 15, the country's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a report.

"(The festival) will inspire us on our powerful march and help make this meaningful year a revolutionary year of celebrations," Yonhap News Agency quoted the North's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun as saying in a separate report.

Pyongyang will stage another major international art festival online this year.

The April Spring Friendship Art Festival, which started in 1982, is a biennial event that invites art troupes from other countries to celebrate the late founder's birthday.

The birth anniversary, referred to in the North as the Day of the Sun, is one of the country's biggest national holidays. The North tends to mark every fifth and 10th anniversary with large-scale events, including military parades.

Citing commercial satellite imagery from Planet Labs, Radio Free Asia (RFA) said the North seems to be continuing preparations for a massive military parade.

The images show around 600 to 650 trucks have been mobilized at the Mirim airport in Pyongyang on Monday, more than four times the number of trucks seen last month, the Washington-based news outlet reported on Wednesday.