I guess if there's one thing to celebrate on the Dear Leader's birthday, it's that he's gotten one year closer to death (and I'm optimistically assuming that his eventual demise will trigger an eventual end to the regime, unlike, say, the last time a DPRK leader died).

Anyway, the Los Angeles Times has the full story in today's paper:

The devoted threw a party fit for a prince: There were dancers, singers and synchronized swimmers, not to mention unnamed foreign dignitaries -- all celebrating the birthday today of Kim Jong Il, North Korea's glorious "Dear Leader."

In Pyongyang, state-run media lauded a national hero "praised by mankind as the most outstanding political elder and the peerlessly brilliant commander of the present era."

Outside the isolationist state, though, the take on Kim's milestone was a bit less breathless as analysts questioned his physical and mental health following a suspected stroke in 2008.

In a South Korean journal article published this month, a senior analyst wrote that many North Korean officials do not expect Kim to live longer than another five years.

Now I know what you're thinking: "Gee, Kushibo, this article is surprisingly timely given the LAT's track record lately of writing up stories that were big news four months ago." Well, I hate to burst your bubble, dear readers, but today's story is a report on Kim Jong-il's birthday three years ago.

And at left is a pic of the Bouffanted One with what former President Roh Moo-hyun got him that year. We're told KJI used it often.

Actually, that's not the picture I'd like to leave you with, because in fact, whenever I think of Kim Jong-il having a birthday, I can't help but think of this post directly from the Beloved Leader's blog (or this one), the picture from which I have conveniently placed just below this paragraph.

Now aren't you glad I scour the K-blogs to bring you Grade-AAA content (er... Grade-DDD?) such as this? The Beloved Leader blog is a fine blog, and I wish the Beloved Leader would get off his arse and produce more content. I'm all about hearing about his day-to-day life, including the many presents he apparently gets:

It's good to be the despot. Not good to be around one, just good to be one. (Now if you'll excuse me for a minute, I must give serious consideration to putting a "NSFW" label up at the top, since this may qualify as a "ヘアヌード"... you don't really need to know what that says, but since it's in katakana, you can easily surmise that it has something to do with the Japanese obsession with pornography innovation.)

And what post on Kim Jong-il getting a year older would be complete without a trip into last August, so let's dip our toes in the "Kim Jong-il death pool." There's still time to play. Sadly.

UPDATE:
More birthday (death) wishes here and here.

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