PYONGYANG, March 29 (Itar-Tass) – Tens of thousands of servicemen, workers, office employees and students gathered for a mass anti-American rally at the central square in the North Korean capital on Friday. They expressed support for Kim Jong-un, who has called for taking harsh measures in response to the provocative military actions of the United States and South Korea.
The participants expressed their readiness to "wipe out American aggressors" and respond with a "holy war" to provocations of the South Korean regime “outrageous for the dignity of the leaders of the people's republic”.
They called "at the cost of their lives to ensure the protection for the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party headed by Kim Jong-un".
Foreign reporters accredited in North Korea, including the correspondents of Itar-Tass and Chinese agency Xinhua, were not invited to the meeting.
Radio has reported about an urgent meeting chaired by Kim Jong-un. The meeting noted that the American-South Korean manoeuvres on the Korean Peninsula with the participation of B-52 and B-2 bombers posed real threat to North Korea's security and its interests.
In this connection, the North Korean leader signed “the final plan for the technical preparation of the strategic missile troops to carry out a strike against military bases on the U.S. continental part, on Guam and Hawaii and in South Korea in case of provocations from the enemy side”.
“North Korea does not intend to passively watch the U.S. preparation for aggression, and its armed forces will respond with a merciless nuclear strike to the nuclear blackmail from the U.S. side,” he noted.
After receiving the corresponding order, “the army with one strike will turn (enemy bases) into ash,” the first chairman of the State Defence Committee added.
Popular patriotic songs and military marches are heard from North Korean radio channels. In the morning, remote artillery volleys could be heard in the diplomatic town, where foreign representative offices are located.
The situation is normal in Pyongyang in general. The international telephone service is operating as normal, and there is access to the Internet. Stores, drugstores and restaurants are open in the city, the Itar-Tass correspondent reported. There is no movement of troops in its streets.
Heads of international humanitarian organizations operating here urge employees to remain calm, do not panic and do not spread unconfirmed rumours.
As was announced earlier, the plenary meeting of the Workers' Party will be held in Pyongyang this month and the parliament session on April 1.
The situation became tense on the Korean Peninsula after a satellite was launched in December and the third nuclear test was conducted last month.
In response, the U.N Security Council adopted two resolutions broadening sanctions against Pyongyang. The North Korean Foreign Ministry stated it did not recognize the "criminal" documents approved, in its view, under the United States’s pressure and with South Korea’s active participation.
At present, the United States and South Korea are conducting two-month manoeuvres, which, in local media's view, represent an imitation of a nuclear war.