N. Korea stages anti-US mass rallies on Korean War anniversary
North Korea has staged various rallies and events inciting anti-American sentiment and pledging retaliation as the country marks the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War, state media reported Wednesday.
Students, female workers and members of North Korea's largest women's organization gathered in Pyongyang the previous day, vowing to retaliate against the United States over what were described as Korean War atrocities, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
During the meetings, a video depicting "abominable" crimes committed by the US was shown, and young participants warned that they are "sternly renewing a pledge to retaliate against ... imperialist US invaders," the KCNA reported.
In North Korea, June 25, the day the Korean War broke out in 1950, is observed as the day of struggle against US imperialism, with mass rallies held throughout June to reaffirm and incite anti-American sentiment.
Also on Tuesday, agricultural workers and members of a farming association held a similar rally in the coastal town of Susan, while an exhibition of artworks featuring wrongdoings by the US and Japan was also staged in the capital.
The Rodong Sinmun, the North's most widely read newspaper, intensified anti-American sentiment by publishing an article accusing the US and its follower countries of harboring intentions to topple North Korea.
"(They) are challenging our people's righteous efforts to build a prosperous homeland by staging reckless and frantic war exercises everywhere in the sky, on land and at sea," the newspaper said.
The daily warned halting the country's efforts to build up its own power could lead to a repetition of the Korean War.
North Korea skipped anti-American public rallies in June between 2018 and 2021 while leader Kim Jong-un engaged in summits with US President Donald Trump but resumed them the following year after the summitry ended without a tangible result. (Yonhap)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
2 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Son-in-law of SK Group chief participated in US strikes on Iran
Kevin Liu Huang, the son-in-law of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, participated in the recent US and Israeli airstrike operations targeting Iran, according to his own social media post. Huang, who is married to Chey's second daughter, Chey Min-jung, currently serves in the US Combined Special Operations Joint Task Force -- Central (CSOJTF-C), based in the Middle East. On Tuesday, local time, he shared insights into his deployment via LinkedIn. "I thought deploying to the Middle East with a joint task force headquarters would be 'sleepy' vs. working in Ukraine or INDOPACOM (Indo-Pacific Command),' he wrote. He went on to say he 'couldn't have imagined that within six short months: the Assad regime would fall, the Houthis would capitulate to our bombing attacks and we'd join the Israelis in bombing Iran directly." Huang tied the knot with the Korean tycoon's daughter in Seoul in October last year. A Chinese-American, Huang graduated from Harvard University and earned an MBA from Stanford University. After college, he joined the US Marine Corps. Since 2021, he has served as a reservist while also running a startup, continuing his affiliation with the Marine Corps. Chey Min-jung also has a military background, an uncommon path for a member of a chaebol family. In 2014, she enlisted as a naval officer candidate and was deployed to the Gulf of Aden in 2015 with the Cheonghae Unit. In 2016, she served in the Korean Navy's Second Fleet Command, which defends the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border with North Korea.
Korea Herald
4 hours ago
- Korea Herald
N. Korea vows revenge on US on war anniversary
North Korea has staged various rallies and events inciting anti-American sentiment and pledging retaliation as the country marks the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War, state media reported Wednesday. Students, female workers and members of North Korea's largest women's organization gathered in Pyongyang the previous day, vowing to retaliate against the United States over what were described as Korean War atrocities, according to the Korean Central News Agency. During the meetings, a video depicting "abominable" crimes committed by the US was shown, and young participants warned that they are "sternly renewing a pledge to retaliate against ... imperialist US invaders," the KCNA reported. In North Korea, June 25, the day the Korean War broke out in 1950, is observed as the day of struggle against US imperialism, with mass rallies held throughout June to reaffirm and incite anti-American sentiment. Also on Tuesday, agricultural workers and members of a farming association held a similar rally in the coastal town of Susan, while an exhibition of artworks featuring wrongdoings by the US and Japan was also staged in the capital. The Rodong Sinmun, the North's most widely read newspaper, intensified anti-American sentiment by publishing an article accusing the US and its follower countries of harboring intentions to topple North Korea. "(They) are challenging our people's righteous efforts to build a prosperous homeland by staging reckless and frantic war exercises everywhere in the sky, on land and at sea," the newspaper said. The daily warned that halting the country's efforts to build up its own power could lead to a repetition of the Korean War. North Korea skipped anti-American public rallies in June between 2018 and 2021 while leader Kim Jong-un engaged in summits with US President Donald Trump, but resumed them the following year after the summitry ended without a tangible result. (Yonhap)
Korea Herald
4 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Unsung heroes: Forgotten child soldiers of the Korean War
Of some 30,000 child soldiers who joined the war, 2,573 were killed; survivors not registered patriots Park Tae-seung, 92, vividly remembers the day he was conscripted into the South Korean military to fight against North Koreans. It was 75 years ago, near the end of August 1950, only three months after the 1950-53 Korean War began. He was 17. 'Age didn't really matter — if we were physically big enough, then the country deemed us sufficient to enter the war,' Park, who now lives in the quiet city of Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, told The Korea Herald on Wednesday. 'I saw so many of us — both allies and enemies — fighting in the war and getting killed. It still haunts me to this day how I had to leave behind my friends on the battlefield just to survive,' he added. Park is one of the 29,603 soldiers aged 17 and under who were conscripted for the Korean War, according to data provided by the Institute for Military History under the Defense Ministry in 2011. Among some 30,000 soldiers, 2,573 were killed in the war. While most were part of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, some served in the United Nations Command. Some 470 of the 30,000 were identified as female. The institute's report tied to the data said that such conscriptions of child soldiers were not carried out 'through standard procedures,' indicating that many were forced to enter the war. Park was allowed to be discharged from the armed forces in February 1955, some two years after the war ended. He was 22 at the time. With the country attempting to rebuild itself from the ashes of war, Park at first saw hope, but his life was quickly filled with despair and crippling challenges. 'My mother had sent all three of her young sons to war. My eldest brother died in the war, leaving his wife widowed … the years following the war were filled with poverty and struggle to earn a meager portion of rice to sustain my family for the day.' It did not help that the South Korean government had turned a blind eye towards the service of child soldiers during the Korean War in the following decades. It was only in 2010 that the Defense Ministry acknowledged them as official soldiers who fought in the war, upon the suggestion of the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission. 'We lost our chance to be educated and live better lives. And the country abandoned us,' Park said. Fighting for rights Under the current law, child soldiers are recognized as war veterans but not as registered patriots. Registered patriots receive bigger rewards and better health benefits compared to those classified as war veterans. Bereaved families of registered patriots can also continue receiving similar benefits after his or her death. Families of war veterans cannot. A bill to amend the Act on Honorable Treatment of War Veterans and Establishment of Related Associations, aiming to establish a compensation and support system for child soldiers, has been repeatedly drafted, yet scrapped at the National Assembly throughout the past decade. It has never been never been prioritized. Attorney Ha Kyoung-hwan, who has worked closely with the survivors of the forgotten group since 2014, said that time is running out. He recently attended a memorial service for child soldiers held in Daegu on June 18. A decade ago, 100 survivors attended the event. This year, there were only two. 'The survivors are now aged well over 90, and time is running out,' Ha, whose uncle was a Korean War child soldier himself, said via phone. President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday called for the Cabinet members to 'review whether sufficient rewards and respectful treatments are handed to those who made special sacrifices to protect South Korea.'
