North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended a huge civil parade in the capital Pyongyang to mark the birthday of his grandfather and founder of the country. in which thousands of people marched in a choreographed display of loyalty to the Kim family, state media reported on Saturday.
The reports did not mention any speeches or comments by Kim during the event held on Friday night and, apparently, the country commemorated its most important national holiday without displaying its military equipment amid growing tensions over its nuclear program.
In the last weeks, Commercial satellite images have shown preparations for a huge military parade in Pyongyang, which could take place on April 25. — on the anniversary of the founding of the North Korean Army — and showcase the most advanced weapons in Kim’s nuclear arsenal, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Pyongyang is also expected to intensify your weapons tests in the coming weeks or monthswhich could include the resumption of nuclear explosive tests or missile test flights over Japan, in an attempt to force a response from the US governmentwhich is more concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its rivalry with China.
State media showed Kim waving from a balcony above Kim Il Sung Square, named after his grandfather, as huge columns of people carrying red plastic flowers and floats bearing political messages marched below.
The state press carried out intensive coverage of the commemoration, which included the opening of new apartments, a festival of lights and floral tributes.
For Leif-Eric Easleyan associate professor of international studies at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, was a calculated decision to show the new apartments and people with smartphones as “the Kim regime needs more sources of national pride and legitimacy”.
Ri Il Hwana Politburo member of the ruling Workers’ Party, made a call for loyalty during a speech in which he stated that the North Koreans “will always be victorious” under Kim. Kim reportedly made no speech during the event and state media did not mention comments toward the United States or rival South Korea.
The parade took place hours before thousands of young people danced in the square and fireworks launched from a nearby riverbank lit up the night.
Kim Il Sung’s birthday is on major national holiday in a country the Kim family has ruled under a strong cult of personality since its founding in 1948. This week’s celebrations for the 110th anniversary of his birth come at a time when his grandson is trying to reactivate the nuclear maneuvers to force the United States to accept the idea of a North Korea as a nuclear power and withdraw the suffocating economic sanctions against it.
The hermetic nation kicked off 2022 with a series of weapons tests, including the first ICBM flight since 2017. The South Korean military has also detected signs that a nuclear test center that had been partially dismantled weeks after the first summit between Kim and then US President Donald Trump in June 2018 is being rebuilt.
(With information from AP and AFP)
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Source-www.infobae.com