North Korea put on a musical spectacle to honor the birthday of the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung, ending with a video in which missiles rain down on the United States and burst into flames. The audience and the current leader Kim Jong Un appeared to love it.
Snip:
Choe Ryong Hae, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee, vice-chairman of the DPRK State Affairs Commission and vice-chairman of the WPK Central Committee, delivered a congratulatory speech.
He referred to the large-scale military parade and mass demonstration as a proud report of loyalty the descendants of Kim Il Sung and the soldiers and disciples of Kim Jong Il present to the great leaders while carrying on their sacred revolutionary cause without an inch of deflection. He also said it was a momentous success that the DPRK tremendously built up the self-reliant defence associated with the whole lives of the President and the Chairman, adding that at this plaza the Korean people can rightly pride themselves on being fully ready to mercilessly crush the enemy's nukes of tyranny by dint of the nuclear weapons of justice impregnated with their precious blood and sweat.
From Reuters:
North Korea's state television aired footage of a choral performance attended by Kim Jong Un, the elder Kim's grandson, on Sunday, a day after a huge military parade in Pyongyang, which also marked the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung.
The singing was followed by footage of its test-firing of a missile in February which, in the video, was joined by other missiles shooting into sky, passing over the Pacific and exploding in giant balls of flames in the United States.
The video ended with a picture of the American flag in flames, overlapping row after row of white crosses in a cemetery.
"When the performance was over, all the performers and participants in the military parade broke into enthusiastic cheers of "hurrah!" state run KCNA news agency said.
State TV footage showed leader Kim smiling and waving in return.
"The Dear Supreme Leader waved back to them and congratulated the artistes on their successful performance," KCNA said.
North Korea said in February that it had successfully tested a new type of medium- to long-range ballistic missile, the Pukguksong-2, propelled by a solid-fuel engine.
Related reading in today's Financial Times: "A reckless North Korea remains China's useful ally."
