This past weekend North Korea celebrated its main holiday, the Day of the Sun. It marked the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the DPRK, the grandfather of the current leader of the country, Kim Jong-un. North Korea is living in an original way, based on the ideology of Kim Il-sung, the so-called Juche ideology.

Initially, this was a variant of the national form of communism for North Korea, independent of the influence of Stalin and Mao. The core of the Juche ideology has been preserved to this day. It's based on the original social structure with strong centralization, huge public sector in the economy, official atheism and, most importantly, country's self-reliance.

In the North Korean society, the communist principle "From Each According to His Ability, to Each According to His Need" is functioning. At the same time, the need of each person is determined by the state, that is by the only ruling party there. In practice, everyone's needs are modest, if not minimal. Everything is given to the country. In North Korea, the birthday of Kim Il-sung became the beginning of the chronology. Now, the 106th year of the Juche calendar began. And on April 15, a song festival, a show of gymnasts, a military parade and half an hour evening fireworks were organized to demonstrate the unity of the country in the face of the external threats.

In the West, for some reason, people believed that North Korea was planning to hold another nuclear test in those days, and America even promised to "punish" the country. Nothing of this kind happened, and the threats stayed unrealized. However, the test missile launch made everyone feel a little worried. A rocket exploded at the start, which didn't seem like a big deal in North Korea. Darya Kozlova reports from the festive Pyongyang. There is not a word about the new missile launches in the DPRK. On the streets and in the newspapers, they talk about the grandiose parade. Have you read the newspapers today? Yes. They say that today the DPRK conducted missile tests. Have you heard about this? I don’t really understand what you're talking about.

But the government of the country is sure that the test of the missiles is their internal business and, moreover, it’s a routine practice, which is aimed at improving the country's defense capability. Even if we did it, this is a normal process necessary to increase the nuclear potential of our country and the development of our deterrent forces. Nothing special and surprising is happening now. We don’t always publish reports about our tests in the press. This is the legitimate right of our sovereign country.

People of Pyongyang are now discussing other tests. The test of openness. In the North Korean capital, there are 200 journalists from all over the world. You can make videos, look in the windows and ask questions even to the military. The US is now trying to start a war. But we believe in ourselves. We have the best leader, and we will be the ones to win. It’s a test for both Koreans and foreigners. For some, it’s about breaking the vow of silence and talking. And for the others — about believing that these are really the streets of Pyongyang.





After the end of the Korean War, there wasn’t a single whole building in Pyongyang. Now, the North Korean capital is a city of skyscrapers. The Ryugyong Hotel is being completed now. It will be the tallest building in Pyongyang, 330 meters. New residential areas, 40-70 floor tall buildings, Korean apartments, which are shown to the foreigners.

A new apartment in the very center of Pyongyang. It’s not yet known who exactly will live here, but they say that this building is built for scientists and higher teaching staff. Koreans certainly show the best that they have, but the trend is obvious: taxis, new trains in the subway and smartphones. In the metro locals spend time looking at their phones. There is cellular connection and even their own internal Internet. Jackets, like the ones Kim Jong-un wears, and, of course, his haircut are in fashion. We don’t do such haircut for the elderly. But the young want to cut their hair short at the bottom, long on top, and look like our leader.

Confidence in the fact that Pyongyang can protect itself is taught to North Koreans since childhood. The North Korean army is considered to be one of the strongest in the world. Official data on the number of enlisted is classified, but, according to the UN, we are talking about approximately a million and 300 thousand people. Everyone serves in the North Korean army: women, people with science degrees. There are no exceptions. It’s believed that the DPRK army is the fourth largest in the world, with the population of the country of only 25 million people.

The moment of pride for every North Korean is the parade on Kim Il-sung Square. At the moment when the leader of the DPRK appears on the podium, the square explodes with applause. Many people can’t even see Kim Jong-un from the other end of the square, but the very fact of his presence today, here and now is important. The party leaders rise, ordinary Koreans cry and scream. This year’s scope is special.

The 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the Republic, who, even 23 years after his death, holds the position of the eternal president of the DPRK. In front of the rostrum, where the party leadership is sitting, units of the DPRK Armed Forces pass. Traditional Korean marching, known all around the world, with a slight jump. Stunning synchrony and precision. It feels as if even the earth was shaking.

Only the best out of a million and 300 thousand of the North Korean military are in the square today. Koreans demonstrate their latest achievement, the Pukguksong-2 missile. It’s said to be able to fly to the American military bases on the Island of Guam and the Hawaiian Islands. If America arranges a provocation, we will immediately respond with a devastating attack, answering with a total war to a total war and a nuclear war to a nuclear strike.

In the DPRK, Kim Jong-un is an example to follow. News about him is always on the front pages of all newspapers. But on the last ones, they invariably write about the events in the world: Syria, Russia, Europe, the United States.

The fact that the North Koreans live in an absolute information blockade isn’t true. Of course, the North Koreans know about the attack on Syria and that this blow was kind of a hint to the DPRK. They know, but one can’t say that they are afraid. Of course, there are no doubts that there will be new ultimatums from Seoul and Washington. However, after each statement like this Pyongyang becomes more and more convinced that without developing the military industry, the country can’t exist independently.