NewsRescue
North Korean civilians swore a “war of vengeance” and denounced US “imperialism” at large rallies in Pyongyang on Sunday to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the commencement of the Korean War, local media reported on Monday.
According to state media agency KCNA, large throngs of primarily “working people, youth, and students” gathered at the capital’s May Day Stadium and other spots throughout the city. Those there “manifest[ed] their will to [take] revenge on the US imperialists who proved an aggressive war to obliterate the DPRK in its cradle,” according to the report.
Reuters reported on Monday that photos from inside the 114,000-person stadium showed individuals holding placards that read “The entire US mainland is within our shooting range” and “The imperialist US is the destroyer of peace.”
A large number of North Korean elites attended the rallies, with an unknown speaker telling KCNA that the US is “hell-bent on military confrontation and nuclear war exercises,” which “reveals their aggressive nature will never change for all ages.”
The rallies commemorated the 73rd anniversary of the Korean War, which began on June 25, 1950, when North Korea invaded its southern neighbor in an attempt to unite the Korean Peninsula. The ensuing three-year war, which saw US-led United Nations soldiers ally with Seoul, killed an estimated two million people.
Because the fight concluded in a truce rather than a peace treaty, North and South Korea are officially still at war.
The Pyongyang demonstrations come after several months of increasing weapons testing and an unsuccessful attempt to launch its first military spy satellite last month. Officials said a second launch attempt is planned for the future.
North Korea successfully tested its first solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in April, as part of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s commitment to upgrade the country’s arsenal. Kim has stated that North Korea’s military weapons must be advanced in response to US hostility and joint military drills undertaken by Washington and Seoul.
Separately, Pyongyang’s foreign ministry accused the US on Monday of “desperate attempts to ignite a nuclear war,” and said that Washington has deployed a variety of strategic assets to achieve its objectives in the region.
