On the 73rd anniversary of the Korean War, nearly 120,000 people, mostly young people, participated in large gatherings held in Pyongyang the capital city, denouncing US “imperialism” and pledging a “war of revenge” against it.
Photos from the protest, which were released by the official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday, showed a crowded stadium filled with protesters, many of whom were marching and shouting slogans. Some of the protesters were also carrying placards that read, “The entire US mainland is within our shooting range” and “The imperialist US is the destroyer of peace.”
According to the KCNA report, North Korea now possessed “the strongest absolute weapon to punish the US imperialists” and that “avengers on this land are burning with the indomitable will to revenge the enemy.”
On June 25, 1950, the US-backed forces in the South declared war on the China-backed forces in the North. The war lasted three years, claimed an estimated two million lives, and was ended by a truce rather than a peace treaty.
The commemorative activities took place on Sunday after Pyongyang conducted numerous missile and other weapon tests earlier in the year. Pyongyang also made an unsuccessful attempt to launch its first surveillance satellite into orbit last month but promised to try again at a later date.
In response to ongoing war games that US and South Korean military forces continue to conduct near its waters, which it views as invasion drills, the North has maintained that its arsenal and nuclear program are necessary deterrent measures.
In a different report, North Korea’s foreign ministry charged that the US was sending strategic assets to the area and that Washington was “making desperate attempts to ignite a nuclear war.”
As a result of ongoing US-led sanctions against the North and Washington’s refusal to reciprocate Pyongyang’s request for denuclearization, the so-called denuclearization talks that began after a high-profile summit between North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and former US president Donald Trump have been inactive since 2019.
Recent deployment of a nuclear-armed warship by the Biden administration to South Korea has further emboldened the North to carry out and develop its nuclear weapons program.
