NKorea Mobilizes 100,000 for New Year Rally

Kim Jong Il rules the totalitarian nation in his capacity as chairman of the country's all-powerful National Defense Commission.

In this image from television, North Korean participants stand by portraits of North Korean former...

In this image from television, North Korean participants stand by portraits of North Korean former leader Kim Il Sung, left, and his son and current leader Kim Jong Il during a mass rally in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. The mass rally was held Monday to endorse the yearly "editorial," an article published in the state media which comprises an overview of the past year and sets out the policies and objectives of the coming year. (AP Photo/APTN)

(AP)

The concept of "military first" was a focal point of the regime's New Year statement, a joint editorial from the country's three main publications that is the closest thing to an annual state of the union address in Pyongyang.

Analysts say Kim Jong Il is reaffirming the military's might as a way to tighten his grip on the nation of 23 million at a time of economic hardship and political uncertainty. The regime also is setting the stage for a post-Kim Jong Il era, experts said.

Kim inherited leadership upon his father's 1994 death but the "Dear Leader," believed to suffer from diabetes and heart disease, has not named any of his sons to succeed him.

"He will continue to put importance on the military until he completes naming his successor," said Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor at Seoul's Korea University.

North and South Korea, which fought a three-year war in the 1950s, remain divided by the world's most heavily guarded border. Relations warmed under 10 years of liberal leadership in Seoul, but quickly turned frosty when conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office last February refusing to hand over aid unconditionally.

Though reliant on Seoul's handouts, the North cut off all ties with the South, and it emerged Monday that the senior Pyongyang policymaker for inter-Korean relations was fired in the fallout. New names have appeared in KCNA reports in recent weeks, signaling a government shuffle in the capital.

In Pyongyang, there was no sign of uncertainty about the future in footage broadcast by APTN, with scores turning out for the staged rally despite the bitter cold.

"The New Year is a year of a great change, which will be embellished with noteworthy events in the history of the construction of a great, prosperous and powerful socialist country," said Choe Tae Bok, secretary of the powerful Central Committee of the Workers' Party. He called it "a year of a revolutionary surge."