North Korea holds a photo exhibition marking the 112th birthday of late founder Kim Il-sung in this file photo carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, April 9. Yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent an educational aid fund and stipends to a group of pro-Pyongyang ethnic Koreans in Japan ahead of the upcoming 112th birthday of late founder Kim Il-sung, the North's state media reported Sunday.

The fund and stipends were valued at 303.7 million yen ($1.98 million), according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim sent the fund to "the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan for democratic national education of Korean children in Japan on the occasion of the 112th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung," the KCNA reported.

The late founder, grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un, died of heart failure in 1994 at age 82, opening the way for his son, Kim Jong-il, to take over in communism's first hereditary succession of power. (Yonhap)