美国有线新闻 CNN 朝鲜纪念金正日诞辰75周年（在线收听）

AZUZ: Up next, other countries called it illegal, intolerable. The U.S. wants North Korea to be punished for it. But was the communist country's recent missile test a birthday present?

A North Korean government source said the launch was the best possible gift for Generalissimo Kim Jong-Il on his 75th birthday. Kim Jong-Il, on the left here, is North Korea's former dictator. He died in 2011. As we reported earlier this week, the missile launch coincided with a meeting of the Japanese and American leaders. Their countries are rivals of North Korea, and analysts said the launch was intended to be a warning to them.

But in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, a two-day national holiday is wrapping up that celebrates what would have been Kim's 75th year.

Concerts, fireworks, military displays are all part of it.

CNN's Will Ripley got the chance to visit the area.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is our airplane that will take us to Pyongyang.

Hello from Kim Il-Sung Square here in Pyongyang, North Korea. This is where they often have those huge choreographed mass displays and also military parades pass by here.

Around the square, you find a mixture of government offices and museums. That's the ministry of foreign affairs, more portraits of leaders, some apartments behind there, more government offices here and this is one of the museums on the square.

What's striking about Kim Il-Sung Square and, you know, you see this in other communist countries as well, with these large public spaces that loom over the individual and make the individual feel small and the society feel huge.

This massive building right here is called the Grand People Study House. And in front of it is where the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stands when he give speeches. That's the portrait of his grandfather Kim Il-Sung and his father Kim Jong-Il.

You can see these huge crowds of people coming to pay their respects at what is considered one of the most holy sites in all of North Korea. This is the monument to the two late leaders, Kim Il-Sung to the left, Kim Jong-Il to the right. It's remarkable to see these waves of people who are coming here, all of them carrying flowers, all of them to pay their respects to the late leader on this national holiday, what would have been 75th birthday of Kim Jong-Il.

You see more and more taxis on the streets here in Pyongyang, more traffic in general, really.

This is one of the hotels that we stay at quite often, and it's actually on an island separate from the rest of Pyongyang, so the tourist won't walk around in the city.