North Korea vows to crush any US attack
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il reviewed a massive military parade in central Pyongyang today as the communist state marked the 60th anniversary of its ruling party with vows to “mercilessly crush” American imperialists if they attack.
After thousands of goose-stepping soldiers, some with bayonet-tipped rifles, entered Pyongyang’s main plaza in neat columns, Kim appeared at the podium - sparking deafening applause from the troops and audience members while hundreds of balloons were released into the air, North Korean TV showed.
Soldiers repeatedly shouted “Long live!” and Kim responded by clapping his hands and waving.
“With undefeatable military strength, our People’s Army will firmly safeguard the party and the socialist fatherland,” Vice Marshal Kim Il Chol told the crowd in televised comments.
“If US and Japanese imperialists and their followers ultimately ignite the fire of war on this soil, we will mercilessly crush the aggressors and achieve the historic accomplishment of reunification of the fatherland.”
Washington has repeatedly denied it has any intention to invade and said it recognises the North’s sovereignty.
At Kim’s side were the country’s No.2 leader Kim Yong Nam and Jo Myong Rok, vice chairman of the powerful National Defence Commission.
Foreign guests, including Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi, were also seen. A senior Russian delegation also was attending the events.
At the end of the ceremony, people held red and pink paper flwers over their heads to form giant letters spelling the names of leader Kim and his father, the North’s founding ruler, Kim Il Sung.
Yesterday, North Korea held a similar ceremony marking the anniversary and vowed to pursue a stronger military.
“We should fully embody the party’s Songun (army-first) politics … under any circumstances and conditions, and direct primary efforts to the strengthening” of the Korean People’s Army, Kim Yong Nam told the crowd, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
The event was followed by a staging of a mass propaganda spectacle including 100,000 performers in synchronised gymnastics.
In none of the celebrations, however, did the communist state make a mention of its long-running nuclear stand-off with the outside world.
Last month, the North pledged in a breakthrough accord to abandon its nuclear programs in exchange for aid and security assurances. The prospect of the agreement’s implementation, however, was thrown into doubt after Pyongyang demanded a nuclear reactor for power before it disarms.
The anniversary of the North’s Workers’ Party is one of the largest holidays in the North, along with the birthdays of Kim Jong Il and his father.
The Workers’ Party was founded in 1945 by the late Kim shortly after the Korean Peninsula was divided after its liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule.
Kim Jong Il took over the party’s highest post, general secretary, in 1997 following a three-year mourning period after his father’s 1994 death. The elder Kim remains the country’s “eternal president”.
