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North to combine Lunar New Year with late leader’s birthday for longer holiday

Published: 15 Feb. 2026, 10:33

Members of the public and soldiers pay respect to former North Korea leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il in front of their statues on Mansu Hill on New Year's Day in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Jan. 1. [AP/YONHAP]

North Korea is expected to observe a longer Lunar New Year holiday this year, as it immediately follows the national holiday marking the birthday of the late former leader Kim Jong-il.

North Korea observes a one-day Lunar New Year holiday, which falls on Tuesday this year, shorter than South Korea's three-day holiday.

This year's Lunar New Year falls a day after the late leader's birthday on Monday, giving North Koreans a three-day holiday with the day off on Sunday.

Generally, North Koreans observe the new year according to the Western calendar, while South Koreans celebrate Lunar New Year more extravagantly.

The socialist North Korea initially renounced the traditional holiday as a feudal vestige before reinstating it in 1989, along with the other traditional fall holiday of Chuseok, under the Kim Jong-il regime.

North Korea now uses the traditional holiday as an occasion not only to honor ancestors but also to celebrate the achievements of its two late leaders, including state founder Kim Il Sung, and to bolster allegiance to the current leader, Kim Jong-un.

On Lunar New Year, North Koreans typically visit the Kumsusan mausoleum in Pyongyang, where the bodies of the two late leaders are enshrined, or their statues across the country to lay flowers.

Restaurants remain open and busy with diners during the holiday season, as travel to other regions or hometowns is restricted and allowed only with permission.

Yonhap