N. Korea calls for loyalty to leader on founding anniversary

North Korea on Thursday called on the citizens to show strong allegiance to leader Kim Jong-un as the reclusive country marks its 68th founding anniversary this week.

The Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, said in an article that as the country gets ready to mark its founding on Friday, it stands tall and proud as a nuclear power.

"As the respected marshal (Kim Jong-un) lives, our republic will shed light brilliantly to all over the world as the fatherland of the sun forever," the newspaper claimed. 

North Korean leader Kim-Jung-un (Yonhap)

The daily, an organ of the North's ruling Workers' Party, also accentuated the legitimacy of the hereditary power succession of the North's Kim dynasty descending from Kim Il-sung to Kim Jong-il and to current leader Kim Jong-un.

Kim Il-sung is the country's founding father who died in 1994.

Kim Jong-il inherited his father's power and ruled the country till his sudden death in late 2011.

North Korea watchers said the North's propaganda machine has been stressing that the incumbent leader has been carrying out the instructions of his grandfather and father "without an inch of deviation and without a single concession" and has been leading the revolutionary struggle of the socialist regime.

"With our marshal (Kim Jong-un) at the top of the revolution, our military and people have spent days and nights for the final victory of the socialist country with the sublime images of the former leaders carved at the hearts of millions of people," the daily said. (Yonhap)