Thousands of North Koreans march against ‘imperialist US’ on Korean War anniversary
Thousands of people in North Korea marched through the streets of the nation's capital over the weekend against American "imperialists", vowing a "war of revenge".
More than 120,000 people participated in Sunday's mass rallies in Pyongyang as the nation marked the 73rd anniversary of the onset of the Korean War, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
The marchers promoted Pyongyang's version of the 1950s war, accusing the US of provoking the conflicts and leaving Koreans with "wounds ... that can never be healed".
Photos released by state media showed a stadium full of thousands of people wearing Covid-19 masks, raising their fists in the air to chant anti-US slogans.
"The whole US mainland is within our shooting range" and "the imperialist US is the destroyer of peace," were written on some of the banners on Sunday.
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 avenge the enemy," KCNA said.
North and South Korea remain technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty.
The rallies were taken out at a time when the Hermit Kingdom's relations with the US are at a severe low amid the North's bid to beef up its military arsenal.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has been testing various weapons including its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile, ramping up tension with the South and the South's main ally, the US.
Since the beginning of 2022, the North has test-fired around 100 missiles of various ranges as leader Kim Jong-Un attempts to display a dual ability to conduct nuclear strikes on both the US and the South.
The North is also speeding up efforts to launch its first military reconnaissance satellite into orbit, following a failed first attempt in May.
Mr Kim is reportedly preparing to further flaunt his military might by staging a massive military parade in the capital next month featuring his most powerful missiles.
The North said the US was "making desperate efforts to ignite a nuclear war," accusing Washington of sending strategic assets to the region.
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 on Sunday night.
The North is extremely sensitive about any outside attempt to undermine Mr Kim's leadership and weaken his absolute control over the country's 26 million people.
