State media footage showed Kim waving from a balcony overlooking the huge Pyongyang square named after his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, as huge columns of people carrying red plastic flowers and floats with political slogans paraded from below. North Koreans march in downtown Pyongyang to celebrate Kim Il Sung’s 110th birthday. Photo: KCNA / EPA Ri Il-Juan, a member of the ruling Labor Party’s political bureau, made a speech calling for faith, saying North Koreans “will always come out victorious” under Kim. Kim did not appear to have spoken during Friday’s rally, and state media did not comment on the United States or South Korea. Kim Il-sung’s birthday is the most important national holiday in North Korea, where the Kim family has ruled under a strong cult of personality since the nation was founded in 1948. This week’s celebrations for the 110th anniversary of his birth took place as his grandson revives the nuclear rim with the US and its neighbors. People dance in Kim Il-Sung Square in Pyongyang. Photo: AP The national holiday celebrations included choreographed dances, but not a display of North Korean military equipment. Photo: KCNA / EPA Earlier this month, Sung Kim, North Korea’s special envoy to North Korea’s policy, said Washington believed Pyongyang could demonstrate its growing nuclear weapons capability on Kim Il Sung’s birthday, but It seemed that the country spent its longest holidays without displaying its army utensils, accessories. Commercial satellite imagery in recent weeks indicates preparations for a major military parade in the capital, which could mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean military on April 25, and showcase the most advanced weapons in Kim’s nuclear arsenal, including intercontinental missiles (ICBMs). Pyongyang is also expected to further escalate its weapons tests in the coming weeks or months, including possibly a resumption of nuclear or test missile tests over Japan, as it seeks to force a response from the Ba’athist government. with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a rivalry with China. North Korea opened in 2022 with a series of weapons tests, including the first ICBM flight test since 2017. The South Korean military has also found signs that North Korea is rebuilding tunnels in a nuclear test field that partially dismantled weeks ago. Kim’s first summit. former US President Donald Trump in June 2018. Kim’s provocative demonstrations of military might are likely to be motivated by domestic politics, experts say, as he otherwise lacks significant achievements to trumpet his people after a decade in power. “Kim Jong Un’s stated goal is to develop tactical nuclear weapons, [his sister] “Kim Yo-jong’s recent threats to Seoul and satellite imagery of the Punggye-ri tunneling activity all indicate an impending nuclear test,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. “Additional missile launches are also expected to improve weapons delivery systems.” Sung Kim is scheduled to visit South Korea next week for talks on the international community’s response to recent northern missile tests.
