PYONGYANG: “Gone forever is the era when the United States blackmailed us with nukes; now the United States is no longer a source of threat and fear for us and we are the very source of fear for it,” Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong Un said in a speech in Pyongyang on Saturday.
North Korean citizens flocked to mass patriotic gatherings and dances in honour of the armistice day, in honour of the agreement, which was signed on 27 July 1953.
In an address, the text of which was broadcast on state television, Kim Jong-un further stepped up his anti-American rhetoric, and boasted about his country’s nuclear arsenal.
The armistice is hailed every year as a North Korean victory over America, which fought alongside South Korea and UN forces against North Korean forces, which were backed by China and the USSR.
Although the agreement ended the war, it was a truce, not a peace treaty. As a result, North Korea and South Korea are still technically at war.
North Korean Army General Pak Yong Sik used still more ominous language when he spoke to high-ranking officials, veterans and diplomats on Sunday.
“It is more than 60 years since the cease-fire on [the] land, but peace has not yet settled on it,” said Pak, who reportedly became North Korea’s equivalent to a defense minister after Hyon Yong Chol was executed for treason in April.
