North Korea holds mass anti-US rallies, touts ability to hit America with nukes

According to North Korea’s state news agency KCNA, about 120,000 North Koreans participated in mass rallies to mark the 73rd anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War. The war began June 25, 1950.

The rallies featured strong anti-U.S. sentiments from the North Korean people, who shouted slogans vowing a “war of revenge” to destroy the U.S. While the Korean War was triggered by a North Korean surprise attack, attendees at the rallies accused the U.S. of provoking the war and leaving Koreans with “wounds … that can never be healed.”

Photos released by KCNA showed rallygoers holding signs reading “The whole U.S. mainland is within our shooting range,” “The imperialist U.S. is the destroyer of peace” and “Let’s eradicate U.S. imperialist invaders.”

Those who are attending the rallies in North Korea also expressed pride in the country’s expanding nuclear weapons and missile programs. The North has been testing various weapons including its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile, ramping up tension with South Korea and the U.S.

According to KCNA, North Korea has “the strongest absolute weapon to punish the U.S. imperialists” and the “avengers on this land are burning with the indomitable will to revenge the enemy.”

In a separate foreign ministry report, North Korea said the U.S. was “making desperate efforts to ignite a nuclear war.”

In their latest telephone discussion over North Korea, the U.S. and South Korean nuclear envoys accused Pyongyang of distorting history. They vowed tighter diplomatic and security cooperation between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo to cope with the threat posed by the North.