Defiant North Korea Marks Founder's 101st Birthday

Oblivious to international tensions over a possible North Korean missile launch, Pyongyang residents spilled into the streets today to celebrate a major national holiday, the birthday of their first leader, Kim Il Sung—which also marks the start of the new year in the North Korean calendar. There was no sense of panic in the North Korean capital, where very few locals have access to international broadcasts and foreign newspaper headlines speculating about an imminent missile launch.

But while there has been almost no sense of crisis in Pyongyang, North Korea's official posture toward the outside appears to be as hardline as ever. Yesterday, it rejected a South Korean proposal to resolve tensions through dialogue. North Korea, calling the offer a "crafty trick," says it has no intention of talking with Seoul unless it abandons what the North calls a confrontational posture. A South Korean government spokesman called that response "very regrettable," but said that the South remains open to dialogue. (More Kim Il Sung stories.)