Marking the 73rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, North Korea held mass rallies in Pyongyang. The rallies denouncing the United States displayed gruesome slogans vowing a “war of revenge” to destroy the US.
On Sunday, more than 120,000 working people and youth, including students, actively participated in the rallies, as the Korean state media KCNA reported on Monday. The North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) secretaries, Ri Il-hwan and Pak Thae-song, actively attended the rallies. KCNA released photos showing a crowded stadium filled with people wearing white shirts. Rally participants marched and punched the air with their right hands while holding placards with slogans such as “The whole US mainland is within our shooting range” and “The imperialist US is the destroyer of peace.”
KCNA reported that mass rallies took place in all provinces of DPRK on Sunday, with the participation of officials from local parties, power and economic organs, working people’s organisations, as well as working people, youth, and students.
The Korean War
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25th, 1950, in an attempt to reunite the Korean Peninsula, which led to the beginning of the Korean War. The war lasted for three years, with North Korea receiving backing from the Soviet Union and China against the US-led United Nations forces in South Korea. The war ended on July 27th 1953, through the Korean Armistice Agreement. Even though the war is considered to have ended after this truce, the absence of a peace treaty has caused a state of perpetual conflict between both nations.
North Korea to avenge the United States
For North Korea, the Korean War was a “war of aggression” provoked by the United States against the DPRK. Slogans emphasising the annihilation of the US imperialists were the focal point of Sunday’s march, as per reports from KCNA. The speakers in the rally called the “US imperialists” the “sworn enemy” of the Korean people and said they would be avenged by “merciless punishment and thorough eradication”. A report released by the Institute for American Studies of the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK on Sunday accused the US of making desperate efforts to ignite a nuclear war by sending assets to the Korean peninsula and its vicinity.
Nuclear-armed North Korea
North Korea, for the past six decades, has been persistently developing the nation’s nuclear program and missile capabilities. However, the recent years, DPRK, under Kim Jong Un, has been ramping up its missile launches and issuing warnings, posing a threat to the world. The latest on the list is the successful test of the first solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), dubbed Hwasong-18, on April 14th 2024. Kim Jong Un is adamant about modernising North Korea’s military by developing more powerful nuclear arsenals.
“The Korean people have firmly grasped the strongest absolute weapon to punish the US imperialists,” said KCNA.
In addition, Kim Jong Un has been working to advance the country’s spying capacity. North Korea’s attempt to launch its first spy satellite failed last month. Concerns have arisen that North Korea could soon attempt a relaunch of the satellite in light of Sunday’s anniversary rally and the slogans calling for the destruction of the US.
North Korea broke off the denuclearisation discussions with the US in 2019, with Pyongyang saying their expectations were unmet.
