North Korean leader Kim Jong Un greets the crowd during a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea's army, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea February 8, 2023, in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THIS IMAGE. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. SOUTH KOREA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN SOUTH KOREA.
Mass rallies took place in Pyongyang, North Korea, where participants expressed their determination for a “war of revenge” against the United States. These rallies occurred as the isolated nation in the Korean peninsula commemorated the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War. North Korea, facing significant economic isolation, used the occasion to underscore its anti-American sentiment and reaffirm its readiness for conflict with the United States.
North and South Korea have been in a state of perpetual conflict after the Korean war, 73 years ago ended in a truce. The two countries had come into being in 1948 with a consensus to avoid a civil war. Both Korea and Vietnam had split in half, with pro-communists organising a government in the North and anti-communists organising a government in the South, and thus forming present-day North and South Korea.
According to state news agency KCNA, about 120,000 people from the working class and students took part in the rallies held across Pyongyang on Sunday.
Photos published by North Korean state media showed people in a rally holding placards that read, ‘The whole US mainland is within our shooting range’ and ‘The imperialist US is the destroyer of peace’.
What does it mean?
The observance of the 73rd anniversary of the Korean war in Pyongyang comes after the North Korean foreign ministry accused the United States of “making desperate efforts to ignite a nuclear war”, after the Biden administration reportedly sent US strategic assets to the Korean peninsula and the Indo-Pacific.
The war anniversary observance also comes amid reports that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un could soon repeat an attempt to launch its first military satellite, deemed a spy satellite by the West. The goal of the said satellite is reported to be monitoring of the US military activities.
Kim Jong Un’s bid for spy satellite
Pyongyang’s first attempt to launch the said satellite ended in a failure last month.
North Korea now had “the strongest absolute weapon to punish the US imperialists” and the “avengers on this land are burning with the indomitable will to revenge the enemy,” KCNA said.
North Korea,a nuclear-armed nation has been testing various weapons including its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile, ramping up tension with the South and the South’s main ally, the United States.
