Let Them Eat Their Own Fish

Following North Korea's failed missle launch the big party celebrating Kim Jung Il's 70th birthday went on as planned.

UK Guardian...North Korea has pulled out all the stops in it's celebration of what would have been the 70th birthday of the supreme leader Kim Jong-il, who died in December 2011. Gifts in the runup to the event included a six-metre tall statue of the leader riding a horse alongside his father Kim Il-sung, commemorative coins and medals, stamps, congregations and slogans etched into mountain faces.

See the inspiring video HERE.

In a move meant obviously to mollify the starving masses, Kim Jung Un has mandated that all "Slaves of the State" recieve gifts on this momentus day.

But read on...

From NPR

    Amid the adulation for dead dictators, one salutary tale: to mark the celebration, the party ordered that all North Korean people be given gifts - a windfall of 15 products including pork, fish and rice.

SHIN JU HYUN, DAILY NK

LIM:

But it gave out no money to pay for this largesse, according to Shin Ju Hyun, from the Daily NK website. So, in an Orwellian touch, the already-struggling people were forced to fund their own gifts. Looking forward, few expect major economic reforms, which could lead to a loss of political control. So, can this regime survive?

ANDREI LANKOV: Actually, the North Korean government is in a very bad situation. Now, what they are trying to do is to win some time, to postpone the collapse.

LIM: Andrei Lankov from Kookmin University believes collapse is inevitable at some point.