PYONGYANG, July 21 (Itar-Tass) - The rainy season that arrived in North Korea is not the reason to hinder preparations for the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of victory in the Fatherland Liberation War (the Korean war 1950-1953) to be marked on July 27. The Korean Armistice Agreement that ended the fighting was signed that day.
An international march and rallies will be held in the North Korean capital on July 24 and 25 to support North Korea’s demands for signing a peace treaty with the United States and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the south of the Korean peninsula. Both actions have been sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Regional Committee for Peaceful Unification of Korea and other public organizations.
Koreans residing abroad and foreign delegations invited for the Victory Day celebrations are expected to take part in the international march and the rallies.
A ten-day film festival devoted to the 60th anniversary of Victory in the Fatherland Liberation War opened in the North Korean capital last Thursday. Pyongyang’s biggest cinemas and cultural centers are running popular patriotic feature films and documentaries such as “Father-Leader among Soldiers”, “The Outstanding and Brilliant Commander”, “The Nation and Destiny” ,”Our Leader, We are Waiting for Your Orders” on the occasion of Victory Day to be marked on July 27.
Concurrently, photo and art exhibitions devoted to the Victory Day have opened in the capital and other cities. The pictures show Marshal Kim Jong-Il in his military uniform speaking at a rally devoted to the end of the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War or marching with the units of the Korean People’s Army. The photos demonstrate the combat ability of the Korean People’s Army. The central theme is the unity of the army, people, party and their leader.
The Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance Arirang will be the celebration’s highlight as usual. The artists will show their new program on Monday. Arirang is a gymnastics and artistic festival, known as mass games. The extravaganza unfolds an epic story of how the Arirang nation of Korea, a country of morning calm, in the Orient put an end to the history of distress and rose as a dignified nation with the song Arirang. The Arirang performance has been included in the Guinness Book of Records.
By tradition, the Arirang show will be held on the May 1st Stadium that can accommodate for 150,000 people. About 100, 000 professional artists, students, schoolchildren and young children from kindergartens will be involved in the show.
This year, the artists will show scenes featuring the merits of generalissimo Kim Il-Sung in a war which he won in 1953 and the achievements of Kim Jong-Il in implementing the military-oriented policy of the DPRK leadership. The program will also include episodes showing the country’s achievements under the incumbent leader King Jong-Un.
A festival of flowers named after Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il will open in Pyongyang on July 24. Tens of thousands of these flowers cultivated by ministry employees, factory workers, soldiers and officers of the Korean People’s Army will be put on view in a pavilion on the bank of Tedongan River. A festival of flowers named in honor of the republic’s leaders is considered to be an important state occasion in North Korea. Foreign diplomats, workers of international humanitarian organizations operating in the country and foreign delegations are invited to attend the flower festival’s opening ceremony.
The North Korean leaders are paying great attention to the forthcoming holiday in view of its political and ideological significance and tense relations with the United States, South Korea and Japan. A military parade and people’s demonstrations will be held. A new Museum of Victory in the Fatherland Liberation War will also be opened on the occasion of Victory Day. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has pledged to turn it into a center of anti-American upbringing.
The Itar-Tass news agency, the Chinese news agency Xinhua and China Central Television that are accredited in Pyongyang as well as representatives of other foreign media, including Kyodo Tsushin, BBC and the Associated Press, will cover the celebrations. Two Russian broadcasters will include the Zvezda television channel and the VGTRK (the Russian State Radio and Television Company).
After Japan’s WWII defeat, the Korean peninsula was divided in two parts along the 38th parallel. In 1950, a period of reciprocal threats grew into an armed conflict which rapidly developed into a full-scale war. American soldiers fought on the side of South Korea as part of the United Nations force, while Chinese volunteers fought for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
In March this year, North Korea said that the Armistice Agreement was no longer valid because of provocative military maneuvers conducted by the United States and South Korea. .