It was the ennobling intention of Kim Jong

Issued little more than two weeks after Kim Jong Il's Dec. 17 death and just a few days after a mourning period ended, the 5,700-word message was another sign that the North Korean regime isn't planning to change its authoritarian system now that he's gone cheap burberry.

As in the past, the message was filled with exhortations to many sectors of society and the economy to work harder, do more and "staunchly defend the revolutionary heritage" shaped by Kim Jong Il and, before him, his father Kim Il Sung.

But the influence of two elements specific to the moment was also visible throughout the text. The first was Kim Jong Il's death and the second was the need to reach goals that were set for the country's celebration in April of the 100-year anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the country's founder and "eternal president."

"It was the ennobling intention of Kim Jong Il to celebrate the centenary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung as the most auspicious and significant event, which would solemnly declare the victory in the Songun-based great upsurge," the message said cheap moncler.

Songun is the word North Korea uses to describe its policy, translated outside the country as "military first," that puts the military's needs at the center of most investment and economic decisions.

The North Korean regime several years ago began touting 2012 and the Kim Il Sung birth centennial as the target for becoming a "strong and prosperous nation."

As part of that effort, last year's New Year's message described 2011 as "a year of general offensive, when a radical turn should be brought about in the building of a thriving nation by kindling more fiercely the flames of great upsurge in improving the people's standard of living."

In the same spot of this year's announcement – the overall message follows a template that has shown little change over the years – it said 2012 is the year "when Kim Jong Il's plan will bear a brilliant fruit, and the year of a grand march, when a new century of Kim Il Sung's Korea begins."

In the place that usually carries a direct quote from the dictator himself, however, there was nothing.

The message only mentioned South Korea directly once and carried the same language it has in the past about the North's desire to reunify the Korean peninsula under its leadership. On Friday, North Korea issued a harshly-worded message vowing not to work with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who it considers a "traitor to the nation" for placing conditions on the South's economic assistance to the North.

The message contained 36 mentions of Kim Jong Il, 19 of Kim Il Sung and 15 of the new leader Kim Jong Eun. By comparison, the 2011 message had 10 mentions of Kim Jong Il, 13 of Kim Il Sung and none of Kim Jong Eun.

The heavy emphasis on the Kim family is a sign of the regime's need to convince North Koreans to accept another generational transfer of dictatorial power. Kim Jong Eun is just 27 or 28 years old, much younger than his father was when he took control, a situation that would be difficult in any circumstance but made more so by the rigid adherence to seniority-based hierarchies in both Korean moncler jackets.