Unfazed by the global furor over Kim Jong-nam’s death, North Korea celebrated the 75th anniversary of the late leader Kim Jong-il’s birth Thursday.

The incumbent ruler Kim Jong-un, who was seen stone-faced and staring into space throughout a party-government-military assembly in television footage a day earlier, paid tribute at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, which houses the embalmed bodies of his father Kim Jong-il and grandfather Kim Il-sung, the official Korean Central News Agency said. The Rodong Sinmun, Uriminzokkiri and other state mouthpieces also churned out articles idolizing the Kim dynasty. 

Dubbed the “Day of the Shining Star,” the deceased strongman’s birthday was dwarfed by the assassination of his eldest son, the young leader’s half-brother, by poison-armed secret agents in Malaysia on Monday. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service pointed to the North’s top reconnaissance bureau as the likely mastermind behind the killing.

Though the North’s state media remains silent on the incident, as was widely expected, foreign news outlets such as AP and AFP reporting from Pyongyang highlighted the stark, ironic contrast between the festive mood and the murder’s shockwaves sweeping through the globe.

Across the capital a multitude of events unfurled, from a figure skating gala and a synchronized swimming festival to fireworks and mass rallies reportedly attended by as many as some 3,000 government officials in uniforms. Last week’s successful firing of a new intermediate-range ballistic missile was deemed another anniversary “gift.”

Most rank-and-file citizens, however, would be unaware of the existence of their autocrat’s half brother, not to mention his death, North Korean defectors say. That is partly because in a hierarchical, strictly Confucian society like that in the North, the eldest son takes over. Kim Jong-un is the third son.

While news reports of Kim Jong-nam’s murder and the ongoing arrests of the suspects spread outside the country, Kim Jong-un remained stoic during Wednesday’s celebrations, not smiling or waving, even when the participants hailed the missile launch or as he exited the event. His display was reminiscent of 2013 when he showed up at a public meeting shortly after the execution of his uncle, Jang Song-thaek.

In Malaysia, senior North Korean diplomats reportedly rushed to the hospital to urge that an autopsy not be conducted on Kim Jong-nam’s body. As the request was declined, they attended the session and demanded the body be handed over, local authorities said.

To help North Koreans realize the regime’s brutality, South Korea’s military said Wednesday it will broadcast news of the murder through loudspeakers installed around the border regions.

“Ordinary citizens and soldiers would not be interested in whether Kim Jong-nam is dead or alive, all they care about is how to eke out their living,” Kang Myung-do, the son-in-law of former North Korean Prime Minister Kang Sung-san who now teaches North Korean Studies at the Kyungmin University here, said in an interview with SBS on Wednesday.

“But when the regime revealed the execution of Jang Song-thaek and tried to boost its legitimacy through statements from all ranks and classes, it backfired and the people questioned how (Kim Jong-un) killed his own uncle. So if his ‘poison-murder’ of his half-brother is known through the loudspeakers, many would become skeptical over his inhumanity and immorality.”

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)