North Korean authorities plan to supply school uniforms to the country’s students by April 15, marking the centenary of the birth of late founding leader Kim Il-sung, a pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan said Monday.

“The chief task of textile industries in 2012 is to provide school uniforms to all students in primary and secondary schools as well as universities by the 100th birthday of founding father Kim Il-sung,” the Choson Sinbo said.

Up until the late 1980s, school uniforms were provided for students on a regular basis either for free or at a cost in mid-April or in time for late leader Kim Jong-il’s birthday on Feb. 16.

Free distribution was cut off and the supply of uniforms became scarce since the “Arduous March” period of the late 1990s, during which around 2 million North Koreans died from hunger.

The uniforms to be distributed in April when the new school year starts are “nearly at the final stages of production,” the newspaper said.

North Korea watchers assess the socialist regime’s plan to deliver the uniforms ahead of the late founder’s birth anniversary is an attempt to step up propaganda campaigns and strengthen the personality cult of heir and new leader Kim Jong-un. 

(Yonhap News)