North Korea vows ‘revenge’ against US in rallies marking war anniversary
- A stadium in Pyongyang was packed with masked crowds holding placards reading ‘the whole US mainland is within our shooting range’
- They were ‘burning with indomitable will to revenge the enemy’: the US that left Koreans with ‘wounds … that can never be healed’, state media said
Tens of thousands of North Koreans marched in anti-US rallies in the nation’s capital over the weekend, pledging “merciless” revenge against “US imperialists”, as the country marked the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean war, state media said Monday.
Photos released by state media showed a stadium crowded with people holding placards reading “the whole US mainland is within our shooting range” and “the imperialist US is the destroyer of peace”.
Demonstrators mobilised in Pyongyang on Sunday promoted their government’s version of events surrounding 1950-53 conflict, which was triggered by a North Korean surprise attack, accusing the US of provoking the war and leaving Koreans with “wounds … that can never be healed”.
They also expressed pride in North Korea’s expanding nuclear weapon and missile programmes, insisting their country now has the “strongest absolute weapon to punish the US imperialists and the war deterrence for self-defence which no enemy dare provoke.” The “avengers on this land are burning with the indomitable will to revenge the enemy,” KCNA said.
Photos published by the North’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed a Pyongyang stadium packed with likely tens of thousands of people in Covid-19 masks, raising their fists in the air and holding signs.
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There are signs that Kim is preparing to further flaunt his military might by staging a huge military parade in Pyongyang next month that is likely to feature his most powerful missiles.
Recent commercial satellite images have spotted troop and vehicle movements and the building of structures that suggest North Korea is preparing a parade, likely for the July 27 anniversary of the Korean war armistice agreement, which the North marks as the “great war victory day”.
Meanwhile, a North Korean defector-turned-activist said he flew balloons carrying some 200,000 anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets and Covid-19 medical supplies across the border from the South on Sunday night, continuing his years-long campaigns that have often triggered angry responses from the North.
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Photos sent by Park Sang-hak showed a placard with a picture of Kim and a message that highlighted how his state-founding grandfather, Kim Il-sung, was responsible for starting the Korean war. The North as of Monday afternoon had not commented on Park’s latest balloon stunt.
North Korea is extremely sensitive about any outside attempt to undermine Kim’s leadership and weaken his absolute control over the country’s 26 million people, most of whom have little access to foreign news.
Additional reporting by Reuters
