Lavish displays of synchronised swimming and extravagant rallies mark one of secretive nation's biggest public holidays

This article is more than 11 years old

This article is more than 11 years old

North Korea today celebrated the birthday of its leader, Kim Jong-il, with lavish displays of synchronised swimming, extravagant rallies and the customary paeans in the state-owned media.

However, there were no reports that the 67-year-old had appeared in public, fuelling speculation that he has not fully recovered from a stroke he apparently suffered last summer.

His birthday celebrations came amid fears abroad that Pyongyang plans to stage a missile test.

There are growing concerns that the country is preparing to test a long-range missile, following surveillance reports of long objects being moved towards the coast and of Chinese ships vacating the area.

The official Korean Central news agency (KCNA) reported earlier today that Pyongyang would press ahead with a launch, saying it was part of a space programme.

On the inter-Korean border, defectors and activists in South Korea flew tens of thousands of anti-Kim leaflets to the North by balloon, ignoring a warning from their government that the campaign could provoke Pyongyang.

Activists put North Korean cash into some of the vinyl leaflets in an effort to entice North Koreans to read their calls for an uprising against Kim.

Suzanne Scholte, the chairwoman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition, based in the US, said the leaflet campaign was a way of providing North Koreans with "true information about their circumstances".

"It is more important than ever that North Koreans realise that the greatest threat to their well-being and security is their own dear leader," she said during the leafleting campaign at the border town of Imjingak.

Inside the North, the KCNA reported a surge of congratulatory messages and gifts flooding in from overseas for Kim.

Streets and villages in North Korea had been festooned with flowers and other decorations to mark the anniversary, and the country was overflowing with "warm wishes" for the leader, the agency said.

"Comrade Kim Jong-il is a great politician, a heaven-made commander and an affectionate father who safeguards and illuminates the fate of our nation and people," the country's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a lengthy editorial.

"We have to sincerely uphold the dear general's military-first leadership."

Kim's birthday is one of the North's biggest national holidays, along with that of his late father and national founder Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994.

His apparent stroke last year has raised concerns about possible instability in the totalitarian nation in case he is incapacitated, because he has not named any of his three sons as a successor.