North Korea bans laughing, drinking, shopping for 11 days to mark 10th death anniversary of Kim Jong Un's father

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, December 21

North Korea commemorated the 10th anniversary of former leader Kim Jong Il's death with calls for greater public loyalty toward his son and current leader Kim Jong Un, who is struggling to navigate the country out of deepening pandemic-related hardships.

In his 10 years at the helm of North Korea since his father's death, Kim Jong Un, 37, has secured the same absolute power enjoyed by Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung, the current leader's grandfather and state founder.

Meanwhile, North Korea has imposed a strict ban on laughing, drinking, and shopping for its citizens for a period of 11 days. At midday Friday, as a siren blared for three minutes, North Koreans fell silent and bowed in respect for Kim Jong Il. Cars, trains and ships blew their horns, national flags were lowered to half-staff and masses of people climbed Pyongyang's Mansu Hill to lay flowers and bow before giant statues of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung.

As per Newsweek, “People cannot even celebrate their own birthdays if they fall within the mourning period. In the event that there is a death in a household during the mourning period, bereaved family members are not allowed to cry out loud. The body, the report said, must be taken out after it's over.

While it is usually a 10-day mourning period that is followed every year, this year the mourning period was extended by another day as 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of the leader's death.

During this period, if a resident breaks the rule, he or she can be arrested, the report added. In the past, residents who were found guilty of flouting the restrictions “were arrested and treated as ideological criminals.”