Mountain Media, LLC
  • West Virginia News
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • Mountain Messenger
      • Pocahontas Times
      • Parsons Advocate
      • Pendleton Times
      • Clay County Free Press
      • Calhoun Chronicle
      • Shinnston News
    • By County
      • Greenbrier County
      • Clay County
      • Harrison County
      • Calhoun County
      • Pocahontas County
      • Pendleton County
      • Tucker County
  • Virginia Media, INC
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • The Enterprise
      • Fincastle Herald
      • Henry County Enterprise
      • News Messenger
      • News Journal
      • Vinton Messenger
      • New Castle Record
      • Salem Times Register
    • By County/City
      • Botetourt County
      • Henry County
      • Radford
      • Christiansburg/Blacksburg
      • Patrick County
      • Vinton
      • Roanoke
      • Salem
      • Craig County
  • National News
  • About Us
  • Submit Content
  • Contact Us
  • Classifieds
  • Login
  • My account
Subscribe For $2.50/Month
No Result
View All Result
MM, LLC
  • West Virginia News
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • Mountain Messenger
      • Pocahontas Times
      • Parsons Advocate
      • Pendleton Times
      • Clay County Free Press
      • Calhoun Chronicle
      • Shinnston News
    • By County
      • Greenbrier County
      • Clay County
      • Harrison County
      • Calhoun County
      • Pocahontas County
      • Pendleton County
      • Tucker County
  • Virginia Media, INC
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • The Enterprise
      • Fincastle Herald
      • Henry County Enterprise
      • News Messenger
      • News Journal
      • Vinton Messenger
      • New Castle Record
      • Salem Times Register
    • By County/City
      • Botetourt County
      • Henry County
      • Radford
      • Christiansburg/Blacksburg
      • Patrick County
      • Vinton
      • Roanoke
      • Salem
      • Craig County
  • National News
  • About Us
  • Submit Content
  • Contact Us
  • Classifieds
  • Login
  • My account
No Result
View All Result
Mountain Media, LLC
  • Virginia News
  • West Virginia News
  • National News
  • Login
  • My account
  • Subscribe
Home Local National News

North Korea’s Kim attends parade honoring grandfather

April 16, 2022
in National News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended a massive civilian parade in the capital, Pyongyang, celebrating a milestone birth anniversary of his state-founding grandfather in which thousands marched in a choreographed display of loyalty to the Kim family, state media said Saturday.

The reports didn’t mention any speech or comments made by Kim during Friday’s event and it appeared the country passed its biggest holiday without showcasing its military hardware, amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program.

Commercial satellite images in recent weeks have indicated preparations for a large military parade in Pyongyang, which could take place on the April 25 founding anniversary of North Korea’s army and display the most advanced weapons in Kim’s nuclear arsenal, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles.

There’s also expectation that Pyongyang will further escalate its weapons testing in the coming weeks or months, possibly including a resumption of nuclear explosive tests or test-flying missiles over Japan, as it attempts to force a response from the Biden administration while it’s preoccupied with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a rivalry with China.

State media images showed Kim waving from a balcony looking over Kim Il Sung Square, which is named after his grandfather, as huge columns of people carrying red plastic flowers and floats with political slogans marched below.

Ri Il Hwan, a member of the ruling Workers’ Party Politburo, issued a call for loyalty, saying in a speech that North Koreans will “always emerge victorious” under Kim’s guidance. It appeared Kim didn’t deliver a speech and state media didn’t mention any comments regarding the United States or rival South Korea.

The parade came hours before thousands of young people performed a mass dance in the square as fireworks launched from a nearby riverbank lit up the night sky.

Kim Il Sung’s birthday is the most important national holiday in North Korea, where the Kim family has ruled under a strong personality cult since the nation’s founding in 1948. This week’s celebrations marking the 110th anniversary of his birth came as his grandson revives nuclear brinkmanship aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power and remove crippling economic sanctions.

North Korea has opened 2022 with a slew of weapons tests, including its first flight test of an ICBM since 2017. South Korea’s military has also detected signs that North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground it partially dismantled weeks before Kim’s first summit with then-U.S. President Donald Trump in June 2018.

Kim Jong Un’s defiant displays of his military might are also likely motivated by domestic politics, experts say, as he doesn’t otherwise have significant accomplishments to trumpet to his people after a decade in power.

His stated goals of simultaneously developing nuclear weapons and bringing economic prosperity to his impoverished populace derailed after the collapse of his second summit with Trump in 2019, when the Americans rejected North Korea’s demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a limited surrender of its nuclear capabilities. The COVID-19 pandemic unleashed further shock on his broken economy, forcing him to acknowledge last year that the North was facing its “worst-ever situation.”

Sung Kim, the top U.S. official on North Korea, is scheduled to visit South Korea next week for talks on the international community’s response to the North’s recent missile tests.

North Korea has recently resumed its trademark harsh rhetoric against its rivals. One of its international affairs commentators labeled U.S. President Joe Biden as “an old man in senility,” while Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, called South Korea’s defense minister “a scum-like guy” and threatened to annihilate South Korea with nuclear strikes.

“Kim Jong Un’s stated goal of deploying tactical nuclear weapons, Kim Yo Jong’s recent threats toward Seoul and satellite imagery of tunneling activity at Punggye-ri all point to an upcoming nuclear test,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. “Additional missile launches are also expected for honing weapons delivery systems.”

ShareTweetShare

Related Posts

What we know about the Covenant school shooting in Nashville

March 28, 2023

NASHVILLE (AP) — Six people were killed at a small, private Christian school just south of downtown Nashville on Monday after a...

High tornado death toll in Mississippi like losing family

March 28, 2023

ROLLING FORK, Miss. (AP) — Lonnie and Melissa Pierce lived a quiet, peaceful life in the Mississippi Delta before a powerful...

Migrants set mattresses afire at Mexico center where 39 died

March 28, 2023

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Migrants fearing deportation set mattresses ablaze at an immigration detention center in Mexico, starting a fire...

Russia convicts father of teen who drew antiwar pictures

March 28, 2023

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A Russian court on Tuesday convicted a single father over social media posts criticizing the war...

Twitter: Parts of its source code leaked online

March 27, 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — Some parts of Twitter's source code — the fundamental computer code on which the social network...

All 7 Pennsylvania chocolate factory explosion victims found

March 27, 2023

WEST READING, Pa. (AP) — All seven bodies have been recovered from the site of a powerful explosion at a...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • My account
  • Subscribe
  • Classifieds
Call us: +1 234 JEG THEME

© 2021 Mountain Media, LLC

No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Cart
  • West Virginia News
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • Mountain Messenger
      • Pocahontas Times
      • Parsons Advocate
      • Pendleton Times
      • Clay County Free Press
      • Calhoun Chronicle
      • Shinnston News
    • By County
      • Greenbrier County
      • Clay County
      • Harrison County
      • Calhoun County
      • Pocahontas County
      • Pendleton County
      • Tucker County
  • Virginia Media, INC
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • The Enterprise
      • Fincastle Herald
      • Henry County Enterprise
      • News Messenger
      • News Journal
      • Vinton Messenger
      • New Castle Record
      • Salem Times Register
    • By County/City
      • Botetourt County
      • Henry County
      • Radford
      • Christiansburg/Blacksburg
      • Patrick County
      • Vinton
      • Roanoke
      • Salem
      • Craig County
  • National News
  • About Us
  • Submit Content
  • Contact Us
  • Classifieds
  • Login
  • My account

© 2021 Mountain Media, LLC

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
  • Sign in
  • New account

Forgot your password?

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive mail with link to set new password.

Back to login