Mass rally in Pyongyang in support of Kim Jong Un
North Koreans attend a rally to support a statement given on Tuesday by a spokesman for the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army vowing to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War as well as boasting of the North’s ownership of “lighter and smaller nukes” and its ability to execute “surgical strikes” meant to unify the divided Korean Peninsula, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on March 7, 2013. North Korea vowed to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States, amplifying its threatening rhetoric hours ahead of a vote by U.N. diplomats on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test. The billboard in background depicts a large bayonet pointing at U.S. army soldiers with writing reading “If you dare invade, only death will be waiting for you!” AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin
PYONGYANG — Thousands of North Koreans have turned out for a mass rally at the main square in Pyongyang in support of their leader’s call to arms.
Chanting “Death to the U.S. imperialists” and “Sweep away the U.S. aggressors,” soldiers and students marched through Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang on Friday during a 90-minute rally.
State media reported early Friday that leader Kim Jong Un called an emergency military meeting to order the army’s rocket unit to prepare to strike the U.S. and South Korea in case of a “reckless provocation” by Washington or Seoul.
A full-blown North Korean attack is unlikely, though there are fears of a more localized conflict. Pyongyang has railed against the U.S. decision to send B-2 bombers for military drills with South Korea.
