Is it D-Day for North Korea?

South Korean protesters burn effigies of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, and late leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung at an anti-North Korea protest on the birthday of Kim Il Sung in Seoul, South Korea. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Source: AP

OBLIVIOUS to international tensions over a possible North Korean missile launch, the people of Pyongyang have spilled into the streets to celebrate the birthday of their first leader, Kim Il-sung.

Girls in red and pink jackets skipped along streets festooned with celebratory banners and flags and parents pushed strollers with babies bundled up against the spring chill as residents of the isolated, impoverished nation began observing a three-day holiday.

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.

North Korea's own media gave little indication of how high the tensions are.

The Rodong Sinmun, the Workers' Party newspaper, featured photos and coverage of current leader Kim Jong-un's overnight visit to the Kumsusan mausoleum to pay respects to his grandfather. There was only one line at the end of the article vowing to bring down the "robber-like US imperialists".

South Korean protesters lift up a mock North Korean missile during an anti-North Korea protest in Seoul. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Kim Jong-un's renovation of the memorial palace that once served as his grandfather's presidential offices was opened to the public on Monday, the vast cement plaza replaced by fountains, park benches, trellises and tulips. Stretches of green lawn were marked by small signs indicating which businesses - including the Foreign Trade Bank recently added to a US Treasury blacklist - and government agencies donated funds to help pay for the landscaping.

Braving the cold, grey weather, people lined up in droves to lay bouquets of fake flowers at the bronze statues of Kim and his son, late leader Kim Jong-il, in downtown Pyongyang, as they do for every major holiday in the highly militarised country, where loyalty to the Kims and to the state are drummed in citizens from an early age. They queued at roadside snack stands for rations of peanuts, a holiday tradition. Cheers and screams from a soccer match filled the air.

Monday marked the official start of the new year according to North Korea's "juche" calendar, which begins with the day of Kim Il-sung's birth in 1912. But unlike last year, the centennial of his birthday, there are no big parades in store this week, and North Koreans were planning to use it as a day to catch up with friends and family.

It's long been a tradition to celebrate Kim Il-sung's birthday as a national holiday in North Korea.

He used to mark the occasion by rounding up "ideological offenders" and sending them to prison. Now the celebration de jour is more forceful and military.

Which brings us back to the escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula. If Kim Jong-un has been posturing for weeks, and no one knows if and when he plans to press the big red button, wouldn't it make sense that he'd do something today?

There have been reports of nuclear armament and long-range missiles capable of reaching Darwin. But it's also likely that Kim Jong-un will just fire off a test mile into the Sea of Japan.

Perhaps it's a face-saving measure, perhaps it's just a nod to his grandfather. But history suggests he's bound to do something.

The Kims love a good April. In 1984, they tested a ballistic missile. In 1992 they revealed their nuclear program to the world. In 1997 Kim Jong-il promoted 123 generals on his father's birthday.

The trend has continued more recently, too. In 2006, Kim Jong-il threatened a nuclear test on April 14. In 2009, and last year, North Korea launched a "satellite". That's just cute talk for "missile test".

Curiously enough, while the world continues to wait on North Korea's next step, it's just been business as usual in the rogue state: marathons and gala concerts.

North Korea literally trotted out athletes from around the world for a marathon through the streets of its capital - suggesting its concerns of an imminent military crisis might not be as dire as its official pronouncements proclaim.

In other developments, the US and Japan appear more keen than North Korea about restarting talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program and the London School of Economics is furious at the BBC for using its students as cover to get into the secretive nation.