This is a list of public holidays in North Korea. See also the

Korean calendar Throughout its many years of history, various calendar systems have been used in Korea. Many of them were adopted from the Lunar calendar, lunar Chinese calendar system, with modifications occasionally made to accommodate Korea's geographic locat ...

for a list of traditional holidays. , the North Korean calendar has 71 official public holidays, including Sundays. In the past,

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

ns relied on rations provided by the state on public holidays for feasts. Recently, with marketization people are able to save up money and buy the goods they need. The Day of the Sun, the birthday of its founder and first

leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

, on 15 April is the most important holiday in the country. The second most important is the Day of the Shining Star on 16 February, the birthday of

Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader of North Korea from Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung, the de ...

. ,

Kim Jong Un Kim Jong Un (born 8 January 1983 or 1984) is a North Korean politician and dictator who has served as supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is the third son of Kim ...

's birthday is still not a

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, federal holiday, statutory holiday, bank holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Types Civic holiday A ''civic holiday'', also k ...

. Other holidays of great importance are the Party Foundation Day (10 October) and the Day of the Foundation of the Republic (9 September). North Koreans often schedule their wedding days on important national holidays. North Korea regularly carries out missile and nuclear tests on such important anniversaries.

List of annual holidays

Momentous changes in political holidays in North Korean calendars

During some years, certain dates related with the Kim regime are additionally designated as public holidays for propaganda purposes. In the 2014 version of the North Korean calendar, "Generalissimo Day" (대원수추대일) briefly became a holiday that honors when Kim Jong Il posthumously received the title "

Generalissimo ''Generalissimo'' ( ), also generalissimus, is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used. Usage The word (), an Italian term, is the absolute superlative ...

of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" in 2012. In the 2015 calendar, a new public holiday was to be celebrated on June 19, marking the date in 1964 when Kim Jong Il graduated from Kim Il Sung University and began working as part of the Party’s organizational leadership. Various events related to the commemorative day take place every year on this date in North Korea, but this was the first time it has been recognized as a national holiday. In the 2017 calendar, July 3 became a public holiday called "Day of the Strategic Forces" (전략군절).

References

External links

* {{Asia topic, Public holidays in Korea, North