A celebration marking the 40th anniversary of the naming of a flower after late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, as well as the founding ruler's birth anniversary, has kicked off in Pyongyang.

The celebration opened in the North Korean capital with former Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Pyongyang-based foreign ambassadors in attendance.

The "Kimilsungia" orchids displayed ahead of the Friday holiday marking the 93rd anniversary of Kim's birth were given by Megawati's father, then-President Sukarno, to Kim when the North Korean leader visited Indonesia in 1965.