The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Seoul

North Korea marked the 66th birthday of leader Kim Jong Il on Saturday with an appeal for its impoverished people to unite around the strongman amid a deadlock in negotiations over the country's nuclear weapons programs. The main Rodong Sinmun newspaper ran a lengthy editorial full of praises for Kim for strengthening the North's "political and military force" - an apparent reference to the country's first nuclear test in 2006. "We have to unite and unite again around the leadership, upholding the slogan 'Let's safeguard the revolutionary leadership led by Comrade Kim Jong Il with our lives!'" the paper said, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency. Kim's birthday is one of the most celebrated holidays in North Korea, along with the birthday of his late father and national founder Kim Il Sung. The North's newspaper made no mention of the nuclear standoff. The United States accuses the North of refusing to give a full list of its nuclear programs under a disarmament agreement reached last year.