PYONGYANG: North Korea began celebrating its 70th birthday on Saturday (Sep 8) with a showcase of its achievements – without a missile in sight. The Democratic…
PYONGYANG: North Korea began celebrating its 70th birthday on Saturday (Sep 8) with a showcase of its achievements – without a missile in sight.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was proclaimed on Sep 9,1948, three years after Moscow and Washington divided the peninsula between them in the closing days of the Second World War.
The anniversary is a major occasion in the North, and is being marked with a series of events expected to include a military parade and the return of the ‘Mass Games’ – unique acrobatic shows that are staged on a vast scale.
The celebrations began on Saturday evening with a concert in front of an invited audience of several thousand people at Pyongyang Indoor Stadium.
Featuring three of the state’s top musical ensembles – the State Merited Chorus army choir, the Samjiyon Orchestra and the Mansudae Art Troupe – a red grand piano took centre stage.
At such events in North Korea performers normally play in front of a giant screen displaying the country’s successes.
In recent years that has always included footage of the ballistic missile launches under leader Kim Jong Un that, along with Pyongyang’s nuclear tests, have earned the North multiple sets of UN Security Council sanctions.
