President Donald Trump is congratulating North Korea for its 70th anniversary of its founding, which the country celebrated with a military parade that was notable for its lack of display of nuclear missiles.
He’s also touting his close relationship with leader Kim Jong Un.
‘North Korea has just staged their parade, celebrating 70th anniversary of founding, without the customary display of nuclear missiles. Theme was peace and economic development. ‘Experts believe that North Korea cut out the nuclear missiles to show President Trump……,’ the president tweeted Sunday morning.
‘…its commitment to denuclearize.’ This is a big and very positive statement from North Korea. Thank you To Chairman Kim. We will both prove everyone wrong! There is nothing like good dialogue from two people that like each other! Much better than before I took office,’ he continued.
President Trump congratulated North Korea for its military anniversary
Trump praised the country for emphasizing its economic development
Trump also touted his relationship with Kim Jong Un
Trump is a fan of military parades and is longing to hold one of his own in Washington D.C.
He’s also been touting a show of faith from North Korean leaderKim Jong Un in the last week as the loyalty of some of his aides comes into question in the wake of an anonymous New York Times op-ed that undermined his presidency.
North Korea rolled out some of its latest tanks and marched its best-trained goose-stepping units in a major military parade on Sunday to mark its 70th anniversary, but held back its most advanced missiles and devoted nearly half of the event to civilian efforts to build the domestic economy.
The strong emphasis on the economy underscores leader Kim’s new strategy of putting economic development front and center.
Trump has praised the leader as an ally.
‘Kim Jong Un of North Korea proclaims ‘unwavering faith in President Trump.’ Thank you to Chairman Kim. We will get it done together!,’ the president tweeted Thursday morning.
Trump is touting the kind words of a despot as his own West Wing was in a meltdown after an anonymous ‘senior official in the Trump administration’ wrote a scandalous op-ed in the New York Times outlining a conspiracy within the administration to keep Trump from doing anything detrimental to the country.
Kim’s show of faith came during a meeting with South Korean envoys in Pyongyang on Wednesday.
He told them he still trusts Trump despite a breakdown in negotiations between the two countries, according to reports.
Soldiers march in a parade for the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding day
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves as he attends a parade marking the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding day in Pyongyang
Korean People’s Army (KPA) tanks take part in a military parade on Kim Il Sung square
Kim Jong Un and President Trump at their June Singapore summit
Tens of thousands of North Koreans waving brightly colored plastic bouquets filled Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square as the parade began. Residents of Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, trained for months for the anniversary and held up the bouquets to spell out words and slogans that can be seen from the VIP viewing area.
Kim attended the Sunday morning military parade in Pyongyang but did not address the assembled crowd, which included the head of the Chinese parliament and high-level delegations from countries that have friendly ties with the North.
At the end of the two-hour event he strolled to the edge of the balcony with the Chinese special envoy, Li Zhanshu, the third-ranking member in China’s ruling Communist Party. The two held up their joined hands to symbolize the countries’ traditionally close ties, though the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping could indicate Beijing still has some reservations about Kim’s initiatives.
Senior statesman Kim Yong Nam, the head of North Korea’s parliament, set the relatively softer tone for the event with an opening speech that emphasized the economic goals of the regime, not its nuclear might. He called on the military to be ready to work to help build the economy.
After a truncated parade featuring tanks and some of North Korea’s biggest artillery, fewer than the usual number of missiles and lots of goose-stepping units from all branches of the military, the focus switched to civilian groups ranging from nurses to students to construction workers, many with colorful floats beside them.
The combining of military and civilian sections is a familiar North Korean parade format.
The past two big anniversaries of North Korea’s founding, in 2008 and 2013, did not feature the Korean People’s Army, only the civil defense units, which are officially called ‘Worker Peasant Red Guards.’
Although North Korea stages military parades almost every year, and held one just before the Olympics began in South Korea in February this year, Sunday’s parade came at a particularly sensitive time.
Kim’s effort to ease tensions with Trump has stalled since their June summit in Singapore. Both sides are now insisting on a different starting point. Washington wants Kim to commit to denuclearization first, but Pyongyang wants its security guaranteed and a peace agreement formally ending the Korean War.
With tensions once again on the rise, a parade featuring the very missiles that so unnerved Trump last year, and led to a dangerous volley of insults from both leaders, could have been seen as a deliberate provocation. The North also refrained from immediately televising the event, though North Korean media were out in force to film it, deploying booms and – for possibly the first time – drones with cameras.
Pyongyang residents unable to attend at the square lined the streets around town to cheer and applaud convoys carrying the troops after they completed the parade duties.
Participants cheer during a parade marking the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding
North Korean soldiers march during the parade
North Korean artillery roll past during a parade for the 70th anniversary
Soldiers march past during a parade for the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding day
Airplanes forming the number 70 fly in formation and fire flares
Soldiers march past in the parade
Soon after the anniversary celebrations end, Kim will meet in Pyongyang with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to discuss ways to break the impasse over his nuclear weapons.
The ‘new line’ of putting economic development first has been Kim’s top priority this year. He claims to have perfected his nuclear arsenal enough to deter U.S. aggression and devote his resources to raising his nation’s standard of living.
This year’s celebrations also mark the revival of North Korea’s iconic mass games after a five-year hiatus.
The mass games involve tens of thousands of people holding up placards or dancing in precise unison and are intended to be a display of national unity. This year’s spectacle – tickets start at just over $100 and go up to more than $800 per seat – also has a strong economic theme.
An unofficial translation of its name this year is ‘Our Shining Nation.’