North Korea appears set to hold celebrations for the 111th birth anniversary of its late founder Kim Il-sung on Saturday with dance performances in its capital and fireworks.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The North’s state-run Korean Central Television reported that a slew of events will be held at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang to mark the Day of the Sun holiday later in the day. But it did not mention large-scale performances and events.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
As the North usually marks every fifth and 10th political anniversaries with major celebrations, Kim Jong-un, the North’s leader and grandson of the late founder, is unlikely to attend the event.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He previously appeared at military parades that marked the 100th and 105th birth anniversaries of his late grandfather in 2012 and 2017, respectively. Kim also attended a mass rally last year to mark his grandfather’s birthday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Pyongyang has revved up a festive mood for the late founder’s birthday with a variety of arts events and commemorative stamps of its late leader.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The anniversary came as North Korea has been ratcheting up its provocations ahead of the late founder’s birthday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
On Friday, North Korea said it has launched a new solid-fuel Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The North launched the new ICBM on Thursday, guided by its leader, to confirm the performance of “high-thrust solid-fuel engines for multi-stage missiles,” according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The latest launch also came amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the North has not responded to routine cross-border calls through inter-Korean liaison and military communication lines since last Friday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Pyongyang has recently conducted other major weapons tests, such as the launch of the Hwasong-17 ICBM on March 16 and what it claimed to be underwater nuclear attack drones, in protest against combined springtime military drills between South Korea and the United States.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The regime has decried the exercises as preparations for an invasion against it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Source: Yonhap News Agency<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
North Korea appears set to hold celebrations for the 111th birth anniversary of its late founder Kim Il-sung on Saturday with dance performances in its capital and fireworks.The North’s state-run Korean Central Television reported that a slew of events…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n