North Korea is marking a key state anniversary Friday with calls for stronger loyalty to leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade to display new weapons amid heightened animosities with the United States.
South_Korea_North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_50805 Visitors look at the North Korea side from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Friday, April 15, 2022. North Korea is marking a key state anniversary Friday with calls for stronger loyalty to leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade to display new weapons amid heightened animosities with the United States. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
South_Korea_North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_80265 Visitors use binoculars to see the North Korean side from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Friday, April 15, 2022. North Korea is marking a key state anniversary Friday with calls for stronger loyalty to leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade to display new weapons amid heightened animosities with the United States. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
South_Korea_North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_65456 A North Korean flag flutters in the wind atop a 160-meter tower in North Korea's village Gijungdong, as seen from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Friday, April 15, 2022. North Korea is marking a key state anniversary Friday with calls for stronger loyalty to leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade to display new weapons amid heightened animosities with the United States. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
South_Korea_North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_16500 North Korea's Kaepoong town is seen from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Friday, April 15, 2022. North Korea is marking a key state anniversary Friday with calls for stronger loyalty to leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade to display new weapons amid heightened animosities with the United States. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
South_Korea_North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_43748 North Koreans walk at North's Kaepoong town, seen from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Friday, April 15, 2022. North Korea is marking a key state anniversary Friday with calls for stronger loyalty to leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade to display new weapons amid heightened animosities with the United States. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
South_Korea_North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_10116 A North Korean soldier stands near a military guard post, seen from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Friday, April 15, 2022. North Korea is marking a key state anniversary Friday with calls for stronger loyalty to leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade to display new weapons amid heightened animosities with the United States. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
South_Korea_North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_67751 A North Korean rides a bicycle past near a North Korean military guard post, bottom, seen from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Friday, April 15, 2022. North Korea is marking a key state anniversary Friday with calls for stronger loyalty to leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade to display new weapons amid heightened animosities with the United States. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
South_Korea_North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_90511 North Korea's Kaepoong town is seen from the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea, Friday, April 15, 2022. North Korea is marking a key state anniversary Friday with calls for stronger loyalty to leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade to display new weapons amid heightened animosities with the United States. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_62302 People pay tribute to the statues of late North Korean leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in the Mansudae Art Studio in the celebration of 110th birth anniversary of state founder Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)
AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin
North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_96811 People lay bouquets of flowers at the statues of late North Korean leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in the Mansudae Art Studio in the celebration of 110th birth anniversary of the state founder Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang, on Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Cha Song Ho)
AP Photo/Cha Song Ho
North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_86524 People pay tribute to the statues of late North Korean leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in the celebration of 110th birth anniversary of state founder Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang, North Korea on Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)
AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin
North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_39025 People walk in the street decorated with posters marking the 110th birth anniversary of late state founder Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang, North Korea Friday, April 15, 2022. The poster says "The leader is father of the socialist Korea!" (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)
AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin
North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_96906 People visit the statues of late North Korean leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in the Mansudae Art Studio in the celebration of 110th birth anniversary of state founder Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang, on Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Cha Song Ho)
AP Photo/Cha Song Ho
North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_31549 A woman pushes a baby on a stroller in front of the posters marking the 110th birth anniversary of late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang, DPRK, on Friday, April 15, 2022. The poster says "Father of Nation". (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)
AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin
North_Korea_Anniversary_25344 Citizens take a photo at a light festival in celebration of 110th birth anniversary of their late leader Kim Il Sung at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)
AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin
North_Korea_Anniversary_20874 Citizens visit a light festival in celebration of 110th birth anniversary of their late leader Kim Il Sung at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Cha Song Ho)
AP Photo/Cha Song Ho
North_Korea_Anniversary_26131 Citizens visit a light festival in celebration of 110th birth anniversary of their late leader Kim Il Sung at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea Thursday, April 14, 2022. The lighting letters read "We are the happiest in the world." (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)
AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin
North_Korea_Anniversary_25904 Citizens visit a light festival in celebration of 110th birth anniversary of their late leader Kim Il Sung at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)
AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin
North_Korea_Anniversary_22973 Citizens visit a light festival in celebration of 110th birth anniversary of their late leader Kim Il Sung at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Cha Song Ho)
AP Photo/Cha Song Ho
North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_17547 People dance in the celebration of the birth anniversary of late state founder Kim Il Sung, at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, April 15, 2022. (Kyodo News via AP)
Kyodo News via AP
North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_39935 People dance in the celebration of the birth anniversary of late state founder Kim Il Sung, at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, April 15, 2022. (Kyodo News via AP)
Kyodo News via AP
North_Korea_Birth_Anniversary_30303 A man waves the national flag in the celebration of the birth anniversary of late state founder Kim Il Sung, at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, April 15, 2022.(Kyodo News via AP)
Kyodo News via AP
APTOPIX_North_Korea_Anniversary_20874 Citizens visit a light festival in celebration of 110th birth anniversary of their late leader Kim Il Sung at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Cha Song Ho)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Friday celebrated the milestone birth anniversary of its late founder with a mass dance, fireworks and calls for stronger loyalty to his grandson and current leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program.
The 110th birthday of Kim Il Sung comes after North Korea conducted a spate of weapons tests in recent months, including its first full-range intercontinental ballistic missile launch since 2017. Experts say North Korea aims to expand its arsenal and ramp up pressure on the United States while nuclear diplomacy is stalled.
“Let’s work harder in devotion to our respected comrade Kim Jong Un and on that path ultimately realize the dreams of our great president (Kim Il Sung) to build a powerful socialist state,” the North’s state-run website Uriminzokkiri said in a commentary.
Kim Il Sung’s birthday is the most important national holiday in North Korea, where the Kim family has ruled under a strong personality cult since the nation’s founding in 1948. Kim Jong Un became a third-generation leader after his father Kim Jong Il died in late 2011.
Kim Jong Un has pushed to advance his nuclear weapons while simultaneously reviving the economy. But a mix of pandemic border closures, U.S.-led sanctions and his own mismanagement have caused a massive economic blow in what’s become the toughest moment of his decade in power.
On Friday, residents of Pyongyang, the capital, bowed and laid bouquets of flowers near the bronze statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
State TV later showed thousands of young people — men dressed in Western-style white shirts and women in colorful traditional Korean garb — dancing in a Pyongyang plaza as fireworks launched from a nearby river bank lit up the night sky. The dancers circled a group of performers who held up yellow flowers to form the symbol of the Workers’ Party of Korea -– a hammer, brush and sickle.
North Korea often marks key state anniversaries with huge military parades featuring newly built missiles, especially during anniversaries that end in zero and five. Commercial satellites earlier indicated an apparent rehearsal for a military parade, such as people assembled in formation at the Pyongyang plaza, where such events were held in the past.
After North Korea’s ICBM test last month, South Korean and U.S. officials said Pyongyang could soon launch fresh provocations like an additional ICBM test, a rocket to put a spy satellite into orbit, or even a nuclear bomb test that would be the seventh of its kind.
South Korea’s military said recently it detected signs that North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground that it partially dismantled before it entered now-dormant nuclear talks with the United States in 2018.
“I think they’ll carry out a nuclear test once it finishes restoring its nuclear testing facility,” said analyst Moon Seong Mook with the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. “There is no reason for them to bring back its testing ground if they don’t plan to use them for a bomb test.”
Sung Kim, the top U.S. official on North Korea, is to visit South Korea next week for talks on the international community’s response to the North’s recent missile tests.
North Korea has recently resumed its trademark harsh rhetoric against its rivals. One of its international affairs commentators labeled President Joe Biden as “an old man in senility,” while Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, called South Korea’s defense minister “a scum-like guy” and threatened to annihilate South Korea with nuclear strikes.
