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Kimjongilia

Cultivar of begonia, named for Kim Jong Il

Summary

Cultivar of begonia, named for Kim Jong Il

Field	Value
name	Begonia 'Kimjongilhwa'
image	Laika ac Kimilsungia-Kimjongilia Exhibition House (7984388458).jpg
genus	Begonia
group	Tuberhybrida Group
cultivar	''''Kimjongilhwa''''

Kimjongilia is a flower named after the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. It is a hybrid cultivar of tuberous begonia, registered as Begonia × tuberhybrida 'Kimjongilhwa'. When Kim Jong Il died in December 2011, the flower was used to adorn his body for public display. Despite its name, the Kimjongilia is not the official national flower of North Korea, which is the Magnolia sieboldii. Another flower, Kimilsungia, is an orchid cultivar named after Kim Jong Il's father and predecessor, Kim Il Sung.

History

To commemorate Kim Jong Il's 46th birthday in 1988, Japanese botanist Kamo Mototeru cultivated a new perennial begonia named "kimjongilia" (literally, "flower of Kim Jong Il"), representing the Juche revolutionary cause of the Dear Leader. It was presented as a "token of friendship between Korea and Japan". The flower symbolizes wisdom, love, justice and peace. It is designed to bloom every year on Kim Jong Il's birthday, February 16.

Bloom

The flower has been cultivated to bloom around the Day of the Shining Star, Kim Jong Il's birthday, 16 February. According to the Korean Central News Agency, a preservation agent had been developed that would allow the flower to keep in bloom for longer periods of time.

Song

A song composed by several North Korean composers, also called "Kimjongilia", was written about the flower:

Are like hearts: full of love for the leader Our hearts follow the young buds of Kimjongilia Oh! The flower of our loyalty!

References

"ABS Registered Begonias (G - O)". American Begonia Society.
[https://www.economist.com/briefing/2011/12/31/grief-and-fear "Succession in North Korea: Grief and fear"], ''[[The Economist]]'', December 31, 2011.
Minahan, James. (2010). "The Complete Guide to National Symbols and Emblems". ABC-CLIO.
Lim, Reuben C. J.. (29 June 2013). "Floral Emblems of the world". Australian National Herbarium.
Chong, Bong-uk. (1998). "A Handbook on North Korea". Naewoe Press.
Lankov, Andrey Nikolaevich. (2007). "North of the DMZ: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea". McFarland.
Ford, Glyn. (2008). "North Korea on the Brink: Struggle for Survival". Pluto Press.
(2010). "Birthday of Kim Jong-Il". Omnigraphics.
[http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2008/200810/news21/20081021-12ee.html "Agent for Preserving Kimjongilia Developed"] {{Webarchive. link. (2014-10-12 , ''KCNA'', October 21, 2008.)
Lanʹkov, 2007, p. 22.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

begonia kim-jong-il national-symbols-of-north-korea ornamental-plant-cultivars propaganda-in-north-korea

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