North Korea celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Korean War truce yesterday with a massive military parade trumpeting the revolutionary genius of three generations of leaders that gave it “Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was joined by Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao (李源潮) on the podium overlooking Pyongyang’s main Kim Il-sung Square to inspect a massive throng of soldiers in goosestep and a display of weapons, including its mid-range missiles.
Kim, clad in black, exchanged words with Li through an interpreter, but did not make public remarks at the parade, which appeared to be one of the largest ever put on by the North.
Choe Ryong-hae, Kim’s main military aide and the chief political operative of the North’s 1.2 million-strong army, said the reclusive state sees peace as a top national priority and its military was aimed at safeguarding North Korea from invasion.
“Reality shows if peace is sought, there must be preparations for war,” Choe said in a speech. “For us with our utmost task of building an economy and improving the lives of the people, a peaceful environment is greater than ever.”
The remarks were moderate in tone, without the bellicose rhetoric that routinely fills the North’s public commentary, and Choe did not mention the country’s nuclear arms program or name the US as its chief enemy.
Kim and Li, along with the North’s top military officials and the youthful leader’s uncle Jang Song-thaek, seen as North Korea’s second-most powerful man, watched as a missile arsenal paraded past, including the newly developed mid-range Musudan.
Fighter jets and large military helicopters flew over the square packed with tens of thousands of soldiers, North Korean and foreign veterans of the Korean War and diplomats.
A military expert in Seoul said the parade appeared to feature weapons previously unseen in the North, including new surface-to-air missiles that are used for anti-missile defense.
On Thursday, Kim met Li in what was the highest-level talks between the two countries after their ties seemed to fray following Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear tests in the past year, which led to tougher UN sanctions backed by Beijing.
Li told Kim that Beijing would push for talks on removing nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula, according to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary yesterday that the time was right for all sides to seek a permanent end to the state of hostilities on the peninsula, but added that North Korea had to live up to its responsibilities.
“For Pyongyang’s part, its security concerns are understandable and should be addressed properly, but violating UN Security Council resolutions is not helpful. It has to keep its end of the bargain,” Xinhua said.
While anti-US rhetoric was absent from the official ceremony, those attending the event were more than ready to pledge to strike their archenemy when called to arms.
“American bastards have kept saying they will make war and that they will take over our country,” 80-year-old veteran Jang Jong-hwan said. “Though we are old, we have renewed our resolve not to loosen our grip on our guns and to serve leader Kim Jong-un for eternity and achieve unification.”
Li was also the leading guest on Friday night at the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, where a national meeting was held lauding the heroic battle fought by the armies of the two countries against the US.
It was followed by the Arirang mass games before a capacity 150,000-strong crowd at the stadium, with a card section of 80,000 children flipping messages that included “Nothing in the world to envy” and “We want to be in the army of our Generalissimo.”
In the South Korean capital Seoul yesterday, veterans of some of the 16 countries that fought under the UN command during the Korean War marked the truce at a more intimate event.
“For the past 60 years, an uncertain peace that can be broken at any moment has been maintained,” South Korean President Park Geun-hye said. “The war has been suspended and we are in the midst of the longest truce.”
In 1950 the US rallied the UN to send troops to counter the North’s invasion of the South, which was backed by Soviet forces. The allies nearly destroyed Kim Il-sung’s army when China intervened.
On July 27, 1953, military commanders representing North Korea, China and the US signed the armistice, setting up a 240km border across the peninsula that is the world’s most heavily guarded frontier.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia