North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reached his 30th birthday yesterday, and to celebrate he sent 1kg of candy and cookies to every child in his country.

According to a radio report by the North Korean Central Broadcasting Station, citizens also “exploded with joy” over their goodies.

In order to pull off such a massive task, Jong-un also mobilised aircraft to ensure that each child in the country aged 10 or under received their celebratory sweets in time.

North Korean leaders’ birthdays have traditionally been marked with widespread gifts of food, clothing and other much-needed items. The giving of “birthday candy” was started in 1980 by Kim’s grandfather and continued by his father, Kim Jong-Il, until his death in December 2011.

Cho Bong-Hyun, an analyst at the IBK Economic Research Institute in Seoul:

Such gifts to children are aimed to project an image as a benevolent, caring leader as the North seeks to build up a personality cult around the young leader.

[Source: ABC News]