© KEYSTONE/EPA/KCNA
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a huge parade of citizens on the 110th birthday of Kim Il Sung, his grandfather and founder of the country, according to footage released by state media on Saturday.
South Korean and American officials had estimated that a nuclear test might take place as part of these celebrations. They also expected a military parade.
Friday’s commemoration was marked by a parade of civilians and fireworks.
April 15, called the “Day of the Sun”, is one of the most important dates in the Pyongyang calendar because Kim Il Sung, grandfather of Kim Jong Un, was born on this date.
Color parades
Photos from the official KCNA news agency show Kim Jong Un waving from a balcony in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang to thousands of colorfully dressed people.
“Columns of workers, peasant dancers and other people marched through the square,” waving banners bearing socialist slogans, KCNA said.
The leader also visited the Kumsusan Sun Palace in Pyongyang which houses the embalmed remains of his father, as well as that of Kim Il Sung.
In the days leading up to the anniversary, state media extensively covered the inauguration of new building complexes and showed images of wreaths photographed by people with smartphones.
For Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, the aim was to “portray an economy that is not only resilient but growing”.
Economic crisis
The country is however in the grip of a serious economic crisis, aggravated by international sanctions and the strict closure of its borders to protect itself from Covid.
“The Kim regime needs other sources of national pride and legitimacy than military parades,” he said.
These commemorations came three weeks following the largest intercontinental ballistic missile test in the country’s history. It is the first time that Kim Jong Un’s most powerful weapons have been fired at full range since 2017, breaking a moratorium observed until then.
The absence of military activity on this anniversary “does not mean, however, that North Korea has ceased to strengthen its military posture”, added Mr. Easley.
Satellite images showed signs of activity in a tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site that North Korea claimed it dismantled in 2018 ahead of a summit between Kim Jong Un and the then US president, Donald Trump.