The "celebrations" came amid high tensions over Pyongyang's reported moves to test-fire a long-range missile. The state propaganda agency, KCNA, which hailed its 'heaven-made commander' on his birthday, said that the North will press ahead with a launch. But it portrayed it as part of a space programme amid growing calls to drop the plan and the arrival in Japan of Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, on the first leg of a tour of the region, which will include a visit to South Korea.