KCNA
4/8/2007
The 20th International Marathon Race for Mangyongdae Cup was held here on the occasion of the Day of the Sun.
Its opening ceremony was held at Kim Il Sung Stadium Sunday.
The ceremony was attended by Kim Jung Rin, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Tong Jong Ho, minister of Construction and Building-Materials Industries who is chairman of the DPRK Marathon Association, Pak Kwan O, chairman of the Pyongyang City People’s Committee, officials concerned, working people in the city, sports fans, foreign guests and overseas Koreans.
Marathoners of Namibia, Russia, Malaysia, Botswana, Switzerland, Ethiopia, China, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Poland and the DPRK competed at the race.
Pak Song Chol and Jong Yong Ok of the DPRK came first at the men’s and women’s race.
N. Korea holds int’l marathon to celebrate late leader’s birthday
Yonhap
4/8/2007
North Korea hosted an international marathon Sunday as part of the early events commemorating the birthday of the country’s late founder, Kim Il-sung, the North’s state media reported.
Kim died of heart failure in 1994 at age 82, but his birthday, dubbed “The Day of Sun,” is still celebrated as one of the most important holidays in North Korea, together with the birthday of his son, the current leader Kim Jong-il.
The 20th International Marathon Race for Mangyongdae Cup, named after the birthplace of Kim Il-sung, drew marathoners from Namibia, Russia, Malaysia, Botswana, Switzerland, Ethiopia, China, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Poland, according to the North’s Korean Central News Agency, monitored in Seoul.
North Korea’s Pak Song-chol and Jong Yong-ok clinched first place in the men’s and women’s races at the Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang, it said.
South Korean marathoners earlier left for North Korea to take part in the race, but the North Korean news agency didn’t report their names.
Kim’s birthday falls on April 15, and in past years, the North has usually begun drumming up a festive mood by holding art festivals, sports activities and dance galas one or two weeks before his actual birthday.
The two Kims hold god-like status in the North, as all North Koreans are required to wear lapel pins with their images and hang their portraits side-by-side on the walls of their homes.
