Day of the Sun

The Day of the Sun (Korean: 태양절; MR: T'aeyangjŏl) is an annual public holiday in North Korea on 15 April, the birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, founder and Eternal President of North Korea. It is the most important national holiday in the country, and is considered to be the North Korean equivalent of the holiday season. Kim's birthday, which had been an official holiday since 1968, was renamed Day of the Sun in 1997, three years after his death. The name takes its significance from his name: Il-sung (Korean for 'become the Sun').

North Koreans commemorate the holiday by visiting locations that have a connection with the leader's life, such as thousands of statues scattered across the country, or Mangyongdae, his birthplace in the capital Pyongyang. The most important observances take place in the capital, including visits to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where Kim Il Sung's body lies in rest, and the Mansu Hill Grand Monument, which features a very tall statue of the leader.

The state seeks to provide its citizens with more food and electricity than is normally available, although this is not always achieved. Children, in particular, receive candy and other gifts attributed to the love shown by the leaders.

Festivities are not confined to the specific date. Commemorations occur from 16 February, which is the birthday of Kim Jong Il, during what is known as the Loyalty Festival. Celebrations in April around the Day of the Sun are called the Sun Festival. The day itself is followed by two days of rest, making it a three-day holiday.

Kim Il Sung was born on 15 April 1912 in the village of Mangyongdae, which is now a suburb of North Korea's capital Pyongyang. He has been long identified with the Sun and is frequently called "Sun of the Nation". He adopted the name Il-sung, meaning 'become the Sun' in 1935 as one of his noms de guerre.

Kim Il Sung's birthday had been designated as a provisional holiday in 1962. It became official in 1968, the year that saw great expansion of his cult of personality in the aftermath of a domestic political crisis known as the Kapsan faction incident. In 1974, the day was promoted the most important holiday of the country. It was designated as "The Day of the Sun" on 8 July 1997, the third anniversary of the death of Kim Il Sung, in a resolution by the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Central Military Commission, the National Defence Commission, the Central People's Committee and the Administration Council of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. On the same occasion, North Korea adopted the Juche calendar which begins on the year of Kim Il Sung's birth. The purpose of the Day of the Sun was to celebrate "the greatest festival for the Korean nation," and to initiate a holiday which would be of equal importance to North Koreans as Christmas is in many other places.

Every fifth and tenth anniversary is marked with more pronounced celebrations than usual. 2012 marked the centenary of the birth of Kim Il Sung. On the Day of the Sun that year, current leader Kim Jong Un gave his first public speech. Massive military parades are held on the Day of the Sun and the country's most advanced weapons are displayed. In 2012 North Korea conducted a failed missile test and the new KN-08 missile was introduced in a parade. In 2020, Kim Jong Un was absent from Day of the Sun celebrations, sparking speculation about his health, but he returned in 2021, visiting his grandfather's mausoleum at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun and attending a propaganda concert.

During celebrations in 2024 and 2025, the term "Day of the Sun" was not used, and the holiday was simply referred to as "4.15" or "the April holiday" (4월의 명절; 4wŏrŭi myŏngjŏl). It has been speculated that this was done to strengthen Kim Jong Un's cult of personality while weakening that of Kim Il Sung.