North Korea's founding anniversary has a chance for Kim to raise cash, project new image

PYONGYANG (Reuters) – North Korea's celebrations marking its 70th anniversary on Sunday is expected to showcase a country that has secured a nuclear arsenal and is now focusing on growing its economy and cultivating international relations.

Sunday's events will be kicked off with a month of performances, and will be designed to meet the needs of foreigners.

Having declared his nuclear program "complete," North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be using the United States, China and South Korea this year , analysts say.

"It is a day Kim Jong A should reminisce the past 70 years of the republic, and it is an event where he has the pressure to offer a long-term statecraft that looks like over 10 years that follow," said Hong Min , senior researcher of the Korea Institute for National Unification.

"However, it will not be easy for him this weekend, because he did not really achieve anything ground-breaking after he changed the national policy line to economy-first."

Economic sanctions against North Korea on their nuclear weapons have been squeezing the impoverished state, where some 40 percent of the population, or more than 10 million people, and 20 percent of children suffer from malnutrition, according to U.N. estimates.

Under Kim's one-man rule, the country has been widely held, with a U.N. report last year estimating between 80,000 and 120,000 people are held in prison camps.

TOURIST CASH

State media has called for the day to be "a celebration of the victor and continuously expanding the results of the big economic development market."

For the first time in five years, Pyongyang is organizing "Mass Games," a huge, nationalist pageant performed by up to 100,000 people in one of the world's largest stadiums.

In downtown Pyongyang on Thursday, Kim Il Sung square, and on street corners throughout the city.

Posters on major roads commemorated the anniversary and crews were seen patching the road between the airport and the city center. One Air Koryo flights from Beijing to Pyongyang, mainly with foreign tourists and media.

The events, especially the photogenic Mass Games, offers North Korea a chance to raise foreign currency, a source of revenue sanctions its $ 3 billion annual exports.

Massers topped out at 300 euros (270.90 pounds), this year VIP seats cost 800 euros, said Simon Cockerell, general manager for the Koryo Tours agency. The cheapest seats are 100 euros, with several other pricing brackets in between.

Despite the costs, he said.

"There's very high interest," Cockerell said. "All the flights are full, all the hotels are full. It's quite telling that Chinese tourists were banned by the North Korean side of the world in September, simply for capacity reasons. "

The Korea Maritime Institute, a South Korean think-tank, estimates tourism all over the world, with 80 percent of foreign visitors to the North.

FOREIGN VISITORS

So far, only one head of state, from Mauritania, is known to be visiting North Korea for the celebrations, something North Korea blames the United States for.

"The U.S. is … forcing other countries not to send high-level delegations to the 70th anniversary celebrations of the DPRK," the North's foreign ministry said in a statement published by state media KCNA last month.

After weeks of speculation that Chinese President Xi Jinping may be visited on Pyongyang on Sunday, Beijing on the Chinese delegation Li Zhanshu.

North Korea is also hosting a trade show and other trips aimed at attracting foreign investors later in September, but many will remain united with the North.

Michael Spavor, a Canadian business consultant who heads the Paektu Cultural Exchange, said he was working with the North Korean government on bringing Pyongyang, Wonsan and Nampho.

"We will be waiting for matchmaking sessions with various government officials and stakeholders," Spavor told Reuters.

MILITARY DISPLAY?

Also on the agenda is a torchlight procession, which will be closely watched for new ballistic missiles or other advanced weaponry.

North Korea routinely uses its capabilities and capabilities in the field of missile technology.

The website 38 North says satellite imagery suggests the military component of Sunday's parade could be bigger than one, but no long-range ballistic missiles or their launchers have been spotted.

"Display of military prowess has always been crucial in North Korean statecraft," Hong, the researcher, said.

"But North Korea does not know if they want to display ICBMs, the international society will doubt their willingness for denuclearization. It's highly unlikely that North Korea would be risking it. "