For the first time since leader Kim Jong Un took power in 2011, North Koreans were asked to take loyalty oaths on his birthday, a South Korean research institute said, amid other steps the country is taking to solidify his rule. The loyalty oaths, which Reuters could not independently verify, were administered on what is believed to have been Kim's 40th birthday on January 8, according to the South and North Development Institute (SAND), a Seoul-based organization that released photos of the oath in an ornate folder on Friday.