Rights advocates say the grandfather of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, seen on South Korean TV in January, founded a brutal regime.

North Koreans forced to attend multiple ceremonies on Wednesday for the 103rd birth anniversary of regime founder Kim Il Sung say such mobilization has sapped them of energy that was already in short supply from forced participation in construction projects.

While Pyongyang honored Kim (1912-94) on what it calls the "Day of the Sun," a major human rights group said the "grim birthday" should serve chiefly as a reminder of the brutal dictatorship he founded and which is now carried on by grandson Kim Jong Un.

North Koreans in border areas near China told RFA's Korean Service they were informed that attending speeches, marches and other commemorative events was mandatory

“The event had been held three times only in the morning,” a source from Jagang province told RFA, adding that he was "obligated" to observe parades by the Red Youth Guard and other youth groups on a day that began with 6 am greetings in front of murals of Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il, father of the current ruler.

Residents of the small city of Manpo spent their whole morning visiting a green house that housed the flower KimjongIlia, a begonia bred in 1988 for the 46th birthday of Kim Jong Il, who ruled North Korea from his father's death in 1994 until his own passing in 2011.

“Central authorities’ intention of organizing big events was to raise the morale of residents exhausted by a series of construction works,” said another resident, referring to the North Korean practice of forcing residents to donate labor for public projects.

However, the source added, "people were so desperate for rest, but were mobilized for several events, so they became exhausted in body and mind."

Little to celebrate

The U.S. advocacy group Human Rights Watch said the birth anniversary of the Soviet-installed Kim should be remembered for the cruelty of the regime he founded.

"During his 46 years of rule, Kim established an authoritarian government that annihilated civil and political rights, purged and persecuted dissidents, and created a personality cult that compelled absolute obedience to him," the group said in a statement.

“His grandson Kim Jong-un, the current leader of North Korea, continues to follow those rights-abusing policies, and should be called before the International Criminal Court to answer for these crimes,” the statement quoted Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, as saying.

The report noted that last year the United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in North Korea concluded that the country's human rights violations are “without parallel in the contemporary world” and called for referring North Korea’s crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court for investigation and possible prosecution. The report was released in February 2014 and approved by the U.N. General Assembly in December.

“While celebrations occur in Pyongyang, the world should remember the truly horrific human rights legacy of Kim Il-Sung and his government, which the UN found is among the worst in the contemporary world,” Robertson said.

Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency said Kim Jong Un and top military leaders visited the mausoleum housing the embalmed body of his grandfather. Kim Jong Il is also preserved and displayed at Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang.

Reported by Sung-hui Moon for RFA's Korean Service. Translated by Yunju Kim. Written in English by Paul Eckert