The mass games get underway on Saturday -- the date by which North Korea is supposed to start shutting down its Yongbyon reactor in the first key deadline of a breakthrough aid-for-disarmament deal.

But while there is little talk on the streets here of the down-to-the-wire negotiations, signs abound that a special date is approaching.

"The 'Arirang' is a folk song that explains all the melancholy of lovers who are divided. In that way it symbolises the feelings of the divided Koreans," Deputy Culture Minister Song Sok-hwan said.

In a cash-starved nation that is regularly plunged into darkness, central Kim Il-Sung square was fully lit up at midnight Wednesday as scores of young people practised mass acrobatics.

This year's Festival is special as it marks the 95th birth anniversary of the communist state's late founder Kim Il-Sung, who died in 1994 but retains the title of eternal president.

The city of two million people has been warming up for weeks, with participants mobilised in schools and neighbourhoods.

Most of Pyongyang's giant monuments, from its modern towers to theatres with traditional roofs, are keeping their lights on well into the night in preparation for the big day.

And everywhere are giant photos of flowers -- the "Kimjungilia," a pink begonia named after North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Il, and the "Kimilsungia," a red orchid honouring his father.

"We put on fresh paint, we renovate for the Arirang. Everyone is proud to participate," said Kim Myong Hwa, a participant.

In public places across the city, residents arrange themselves in straight lines to practise their moves, with women in long colourful gowns dancing with men.

Rows of high school students in white caps perfect their performance just outside the giant May 1 Stadium replete with gymnastic hoops and flowers.

Inside the stadium, speakers blare revolutionary songs as 18,000 children aged 13 to 15 hold up 18,000 boards to reproduce epic scenes.

"This shows and promotes concentration and discipline among our students," said Ra Yong-su, who heads the body in charge of the mass games.

On the field, youngsters march and leap in a show of gymnastic skill, some of the boys waving flags and banners.

Song, the deputy culture minister, said the performance brought in elements from a century of history including the struggle and suffering "under the yoke of the imperialists."

But he stressed the Arirang festival was not overtly political, with no slogans against against the usual targets of North Korean ire -- Japan, South Korea and the United States.

"This is an artistic show which brings together gymnastics, music and design, not politics," Song said.

Although North Korea's mass games date back nearly to the establishment of the state on May 1, 1946, it is the third edition of the full-fledged Arirang Festival after 2002 and 2005.

Besides Kim Il-Sung's birth anniversary, April sees the 25th anniversary of the international spring festival.

North Korea says participants are attending the spring festival from around the world, ranging from visitors from the US state of Georgia to a "famous Uzbek artiste."

Later this month, on April 25, North Korea will celebrate again with a military parade to mark the 75th anniversary of the Korean People's Army.

But for all the celebrations, the only promotional posters in the city are the large billboards with revoutionary propaganda. On one, a fist emerging from the Korean peninsula smashes a US soldier with the words "Out to he who wounds our dignity."

earlier related report
Yongbyon is central to NKorea nuke deal
Seoul (AFP) April 12 - North Korea's Yongbyon reactor -- the focus of international efforts to shut down its nuclear programme -- was ostensibly built to generate electricity but is not connected to any power lines.

Instead, experts say, it has produced enough plutonium for maybe a dozen nuclear weapons over its 20-year history.

Under the first stage of a February pact, the communist state should by April 14 have shut down and sealed the reactor and a reprocessing plant in the presence of UN inspectors.

That timeframe has slipped amid a row over frozen North Korean bank accounts, but negotiators are still pressing Pyongyang to start the process before Saturday.

The reactor, 96 kilometres (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, has a capacity of five megawatts and began operating in 1987.

It is too small to make much difference to the nation's acute power shortage and a US Congressional Research Service (CRS) report in January said there were reportedly no power lines attached.

Nevertheless, the North demanded a high price in compensation for lost energy when it shut down Yongbyon under an October 1994 deal with the United States.

An international consortium started work on two proliferation-resistant light water reactors and the US provided an interim 500,000 tonnes a year of heavy fuel oil.

The "Agreed Framework" deal collapsed in 2002 when the US accused the North of running a covert highly enriched uranium programme. But its supporters say it succeeded in halting plutonium production at Yongbyon for eight years.

When the reactor is operational, the CRS report said, is can produce about six kilograms (13 pounds) of plutonium annually, enough for one small bomb.

US intelligence officials believe the North removed fuel rods for reprocessing into plutonium during a 70-day shutdown in 1989.

During a shutdown in May 1994, about 8,000 fuel rods were removed, enough for four to six nuclear weapons. The North said it removed a further 8,000 rods during another closure which began in April 2005.

US chief nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said Thursday the best estimates were that Yongbyon has produced 50-60 kilograms (110-132 pounds) of plutonium in all, enough for six to 12 bombs.

One aim of the latest agreement was "to prevent that 50-60 kg problem from becoming a 100 kg problem," he said.

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