A crowd of 120,000 gathered in the streets of Pyongyang where people shouted slogans swearing a “war of revenge” to destroy the United States, North Korean state media claimed.
The marches took place across the capital as the country marked the 73rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
Photos appeared to show a crowded stadium of people holding signs that read “the entire American continent is within our firing range” and “the imperialist United States is the destroyer of peace”. None of the photos could be independently verified.
Sunday’s anniversary came amid fears Pyongyang could soon launch another launch of its first military spy satellite to bolster surveillance of US military activities after its first attempt failed on 31 may.
North Korea now had “the absolute strongest weapon to punish the US imperialists” and “the avengers on this earth burn with an indomitable will to avenge the enemy”, KCNA claimed.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has tested various weapons, including its largest intercontinental ballistic missile, raising tensions with the South and the United States, the South’s main ally.
In a separate Foreign Ministry report, North Korea said the United States was “making desperate efforts to start a nuclear war”, accusing Washington of sending strategic assets to the region.
North Korea and South Korea technically remain at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty.
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