N. Korea to kick off month-long Arirang Festival in August

SEOUL, June 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea plans to launch a month-long massive gymnastics extravaganza known as the Arirang Festival in August, a tour agency said Thursday.
The festival, named after a famous Korean folk song, has been held almost annually since 2002, when it debuted to celebrate the 90th birthday of North Korea's late founder, Kim Il-sung, the father of the country's current leader, Kim Jong-il.
The massive event will open on Aug. 1 and run until Sept. 9, Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based agency that specializes in trips to North Korea, said on its Web site without elaborating.
The festival features tens of thousands of young gymnasts performing synchronized acrobatics, dances and flip-card mosaic animation in what is believed to be the largest gymnastics show in the world.
The show is a subject of outside criticism as it mobilizes young children for rigid training without providing sufficient nutrition.
Critics also say the show is a propaganda tool to extol leader Kim Jong-il, who runs a massive cult of personality around his family.
Former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun watched the performance during a presidential trip to Pyongyang for talks with Kim in 2007.
In 2000, Kim saw a massive performance with then-U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and its highlight was a giant mosaic displaying a soaring rocket. Kim reportedly told Albright, "This will be our last missile."
The North, however, test-fired ballistic missiles in 2006 and 2009, drawing international condemnation.
In 2009, Kim told a visiting South Korean businesswoman that he had ordered the removal of a missile launch scene from the performance because "Americans did not like it," according to a U.S. diplomatic cable found on WikiLeaks and released in January by a New York-based blogger.