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.
The 110th birth anniversary of Kim’s late grandfather and state founder, 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 weapons arsenal and ramp up pressure on the United States amid long-stalled nuclear diplomacy.
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 is the third generation of his family to rule North Korea after his father Kim Jong Il died in late 2011. North Korea often marks key state anniversaries with huge military parades featuring newly built missiles, especially during anniversaries that end in zero and five. State media said Kim Il Sung’s birthday will be celebrated with fireworks, a dance party and a performance, but didn’t mention a military parade.
After North Korea’s ICMB test last month, South Korean and U.S. officials said North Korea could soon launch fresh provocations like an additional ICBM test, a banned launch of a rocket to put a spy satellite into orbit, or even a nuclear bomb test that would be the seventh of its kind. 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.
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