North Korea showcases military at armistice anniversary

Fireworks explode before the ‘Victorious Fatherland War Museum’ during a display yesterday marking the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice agreement, in Pyongyang. North Korea mounted its largest ever military parade to mark the 60th anniversary of the armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War, displaying its long-range missiles at a ceremony presided over by leader Kim Jong-Un.

DPA/Seoul

North Korea marked the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War yesterday with a vast military parade in Pyongyang.

The North, which claims the anniversary as its “Day of Victory”, held one of its biggest-ever military reviews as tens of thousands of soldiers along with ballistic missiles and armoured vehicles paraded past young leader Kim Jong-Un in the capital’s central Kim Il Sung Square.

State television showed Kim, accompanied by Chinese Vice-Premier Li Yuanchao, on the viewing platform. Dressed in a black Mao suit, Kim – who has been in power since the death of his father, Kim Jong-Il, in 2011 – did not speak.

The parade also included war veterans as well as civilians. Fighter jets and military helicopters flew overhead to demonstrate the might of the impoverished but highly armed communist country.

Among the weapons on display was what appeared to be a CN-08 long-range missile. When a rocket of this type was first shown at a military parade in April 2012, experts concluded it was a dummy, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency said.

Choe Ryong-Hae, the main political operative of North Korea’s 1.2mn-man army, said in a speech that North Korea sought peace as its top priority, in contrast to the country’s recent bellicose stance, but added that the reclusive state must always be ready for war.

The country must “strengthen its defensive position to ward off any invasion of foreign powers”, he said.

Meanwhile, in a memorial ceremony in Seoul, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye called on North Korea to destroy its nuclear weapons and to institute reforms.

Referring to provocative North Korean moves this year, Park, South Korea’s first female leader, vowed not to tolerate provocations but also expressed a desire to build trust with the North.

“I urge North Korea to give up the development of nuclear weapons if the country is to start on a path towards true change and progress,” she said.

The memorial ceremony in front of the War Memorial in Seoul was attended by about 4,000 people, including veterans from the 21 countries that fought for the US-led UN force to defend South Korea in the 1950-53 conflict.

North Korea was supported by the Soviet Union and China.

While South Korea typically marks the anniversary in sombre reflection, vast military parades are not unusual for North Korea, but experts noted this was the first time since 1993 that a military parade has been held in Pyongyang on the anniversary of the war’s end.

The Korean War began in June 1950 when North Korea invaded the South. Northern troops advanced rapidly but were nearly defeated after UN forces under US general Douglas MacArthur landed at Incheon near Seoul.

Fearing a US ally on its doorstep, China subsequently sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers into Korea, bringing the war to a stalemate.

The conflict ended on July 27, 1953, when an armistice was signed, creating the demilitarised zone that divides the two Koreas. As no peace treaty was signed, the two Koreas remain technically at war.

However, North Korea promulgates a different version of what it calls the “Great Fatherland Liberation War”, in which it was invaded by South Korea and ultimately defeated the US, which it considers its arch-enemy, under the leadership of Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Un’s grandfather.

North Korea is one of the world’s most authoritarian states and has been run by the three generations of Kims since it was founded in 1948.

Its national “juche” ideology, invented by Kim Il-Sung, is a vague mixture of Korean nationalism and extreme isolationism.