Why Kim Jong Un is not celebrating 40th birthday because of his mother

On Kim Jong Un's birthday, North Korea’s state news agency published an article praising the leader.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un turned 40 but no public celebrations were announced in the country as Pyongyang fired artillery barrages into the sea and vowed to expand its nuclear arsenal. Kim Jong Un's birthday has yet to be officially celebrated, unlike his late father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung whose birthdays are two of North Korea's biggest holidays which are sometimes celebrated with military parades.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (AFP)

On Kim Jong Un's birthday, North Korea’s state news agency published an article praising the leader's major construction projects in the past decade. It also reported that the North Korean leader visited a chicken farm with his daughter.

Experts said that Kim Jong Un may think that he’s still relatively too young to hold lavish birthday festivities while some speculate that the lack of a public birthday bash may be related to limiting attention to his late Japan-born mother.

Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification said, “For Kim, it's still probably politically burdensome to idolize himself as he’s still young and hasn’t accumulated much achievements."

Kim Yeol Soo, an expert at South Korea’s Korea Institute for Military Affairs, said that it will take some time for Kim Jong Un's birthday to become an official holiday as elderly members of the country's ruling elite would still think he's too young.

Kim Jong Un may be worried about bringing unwanted attentions to his mother, Ko Yong Hui, a Japan-born dancer, Park Won Gon, a professor at Seoul’s Ewha Womans University, said.

“The fact his mother came from Japan is his biggest weak point that undermines his legitimacy of the Paektu bloodline," he said, adding, “When Kim Jong Un's birthday becomes an official holiday, he won't still publicize details about his birth."