Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY
P. 11
WORLD NEWS A11
Monday 12 October 2015
Kim Jong Un vows North Korea ready to counter any US threat
ERIC TALMADGE North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves at a parade in Pyong- event held two years ago, anything to say about rela-
Associated Press yang, North Korea, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015. North Korean leader an indication that rolling tions with rival South Korea.
PYONGYANG, North Ko- Kim Jong Un declared this weekend that his country was ready tanks and missiles through He spent most of his speech
rea (AP) — North Korean to stand up to any threat posed by the United States as he spoke the center of the capital is touting the party’s success-
leader Kim Jong Un took at a lavish military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the still seen by the North Ko- es in improving the lives of
center stage at a military North’s ruling party and trumpet his third-generation leadership. rean government as an the North Korean people in
parade and mass rally in attention-getting way of the face of external threats
Pyongyang this weekend (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) showing the world and its since the armistice that
to mark the 70th anniver- own people the Kim dynas- ended fighting in the 1950-
sary of the country’s rul- walked down a red car- Liu. ty is firmly in control and its 53 Korean War.
ing party by declaring in a pet and saluted his honor The afternoon rally, de- military a power to be reck- An expert at the Korea In-
rare speech that the North guard before taking the layed by heavy rains the oned with. stitute for Defense Analy-
has no intention of stray- podium to deliver the often night before that required But, reflecting North Ko- sis, a security think tank in
ing from the socialist track fiery speech. extensive mopping up of rea’s international isolation, Seoul, Jin Moo Kim, said
established by his grandfa- “Our revolutionary force the square, was followed no world leaders were pres- NorthKorea revealed a
ther and is ready to stand is ready to respond to any by torchlight rally and fire- ent. new 300-millimeter rocket
up to any threat posed by kind of war the American works display. The finale Liu, the No. 5 leader in the launcher.
the United States. imperialists want,” he said, was a concert on a spe- Chinese Communist party, It also displayed drones
With the eyes of the world flanked by visiting Chinese cial stage set up on a river was the most senior foreign and a KN-08 ballistic missile,
upon him, Kim, the young- official Liu Yunshan and se- running through central dignitary, though Cuba, with an estimated range
est and most enigmatic nior North Korean officials. Pyongyang. Tickets for for- Vietnam and other coun- of 10,000 kilometers (6,200
head of state, confidently He said North Korea’s poli- eigners hoping to attend tries sent delegations. Chi- miles) that the country
and firmly delivered the cy of putting its military first the concert were going for na’s official Xinhua News had previously shown off in
speech from the balcony has made it “an impene- 100 euros ($114) a pop. Agency reported that Liu 2012.
of the palatial People’s trable fortress and a global Altogether, it was the told Kim China was will- Kim said the presence of
Grand Study House as tens military power.” most elaborate spectacle ing to work with North Ko- Liu might have prevented
of thousands of his coun- Brightly colored floats North Korea has feted since rea for a quick resumption the North from reveal-
trymen and an unusually and thousands of civilian Kim assumed power after of six-party nuclear talks. ing its most provocative
large international media marchers waving red and the death of his father, Kim The talks, which aim to end weapons. Even so, further
contingent watched from pink bouquets of plastic Jong Il, in late 2011. the North’s nuclear pro- analysis of the missiles and
their places below on the flowers followed the military Though military parades gram and also involve the other weapons on display
capital’s iconic Kim Il Sung show. Others held up cards fell out of fashion for about U.S., South Korea, Russia — which in the past have
Square. to spell out Kim’s name. a decade starting in the and Japan, stalled seven included mock-ups or fakes
To punctuate his rhetoric, As the parade ended, Kim 1990s, Saturday’s was years ago and Beijing has — could give experts clues
thousands of goose-step- waved to the crowd and somewhat more elaborate grown increasingly vocal to the North’s actual capa-
ping troops, tanks, armored raised clasped hands with than a similar anniversary about its discomfort with bilities.
vehicles, rocket launchers Pyongyang’s nuclear am- Some foreign analysts also
and a variety of missiles bitions. believe that by putting the
mounted on trucks then North Korea has shown no particularly strong empha-
rolled through the square. interest in giving up its nu- sis this year on making the
Military aircraft flew in for- clear capability, which it anniversary of the party’s
mation above head, form- considers the crown jewel foundation such a lavish
ing the symbol of the Work- of its national defense strat- fete, and in delivering his
ers’ Party of Korea — a egy. own lengthy speech, Kim
hammer, brush and sickle. Kim didn’t specifically com- was trying to build up his
Another group of planes ment on North Korea’s nu- own stature along with that
formed the number 70 in clear or long-range missile of the party relative to the
the sky. capabilities at Saturday’s military. q
Kim, who is in his early 30s, event and also didn’t have
