A satellite launch timed to mark the occasion fizzled out embarrassingly on Friday, when the rocket apparently exploded three minutes after blast-off.
But celebratory performances by civilians -- and probably a major military parade -- will nonetheless go ahead in a vast square named after first leader Kim Il-Sung.
He died in 1994 after bequeathing power to his son Kim Jong-Il. Current leader Kim Jong-Un was thrust into the top post unexpectedly early when his own father Jong-Il died of a heart attack last December.
No details have been given of Sunday`s events but the strictly regimented communist state is a past master at spectacular public performances.
"In our history, there was no more significant month than April this year... we should mark the significant holiday as an unprecedented political festival never seen before," said ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun this month.
Kim Il-Sung, who founded the communist state in 1948 and plunged it into war with the South two years later, remains the subject of an all-pervasive personality cult which also embraces his late son and his grandson.
He remains "eternal president" from inside Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where his embalmed body lies encased in glass.
His portraits abound in the showpiece capital, where residence is restricted to those seen as most loyal to the regime.
For nearly two months, according to foreign residents, thousands of workers have been busy cleaning, repairing, painting and planting to give the city a facelift for Sunday`s celebrations.
Foreign journalists have been granted visas in unusually large numbers for the centenary.
Rehearsals which they have seen suggest that Sunday will feature songs and dances, punctuated by living tableaux and processions of floral floats.
Every day until evening, thousands of young boys and girls have gathered this month on Kim Il-Sung Square -- which can accommodate 100,000 people -- to rehearse the movements and dances they will perform.
The celebrations are expected to climax with a parade to show off the regime`s military might. Military spending in the impoverished nation -- which suffers persistent food shortages -- accounts for up to a quarter of gross national product, according to the US State Department.
In the run-up to Sunday, more than 600 people have received special honours.
A total of 119 soldiers and workers as well as an orchestra, a garment factory and a cigarette producer received the highest award, the Order of Kim Il-Sung.
They were praised for their revolutionary feats and contributions to the construction of a "powerful and prosperous" socialist state, state media said. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
