North Korea celebrated the 69th anniversary of its founding with colorful displays of national unity Saturday, even as President Trump tried to rally…
North Korea celebrated the 69th anniversary of its founding with colorful displays of national unity Saturday, even as President Trump tried to rally international support for new, drastic sanctions against the hermit kingdom.
Uniformed soldiers stood in rigid ranks to salute at the Mansu Hill monument in Pyongyang, and elderly women in traditional multicolored hanbok lay flowers in the square.
The saber-rattling state, however, did not conduct another nuclear test as part of the commemoration, as South Korean observers had feared.
While North Korea staged its annual party, Trump held a three-way call with the leaders of fellow U. N. Security Council members France and Japan to build support for the latest plan to rein in the rogue state.
The U. S. will call for a Security Council vote Monday on its proposal to cut off oil imports into North Korea, ban its textile exports, and freeze Kim’s assets – measures that China, which could unilaterally veto the measure, has up to now resisted.
The phone conversation, disclosed by the office of President Emmanuel Macron of France, confirmed the three nations’ “united and firm” stance against North Korea and its nuclear ambitions.
Tensions have escalated as North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, tested a hydrogen bomb last week and sent a missile flying over one of Japan’s home islands in August .
North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said Friday the U. S. will “pay a dear price” for U. N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s “hysteric fit” after she denounced the regime’s latest nuclear test.
Meanwhile, YouTube suspended the North Korean propaganda channel “My Ethnic Group” on Saturday, according to Japan’s Kyodo News.
The website disabled access to videos praising Kim’s government and threatening retribution against foreign adversaries.
One of its videos had suggested that North Korea would launch some of its new mid-range missiles toward the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
