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Thursday June 28, 10:52 AMNorth Korea Scales Down Annual Anti-US Rally Amid Thaw in TiesSEOUL, June 28 Asia Pulse - North Korea has scaled down its annual anti-U.S. rally to mark the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War, amid hopes for thawing bilateral relations after a rare visit to Pyongyang last week by the top U.S. nuclear envoy.In the Korean War, the United States and 15 other countries fought alongside South Korea under the U.N. flag against the North. On June 25, the communist country held the event at a gymnasium in Pyongyang to mark the 57th anniversary of the conflict, starting with the song 'Death to U.S. imperialist,' the (North) Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) said on June 26. The indoor event was attended by Choe Tae-bok, chairman of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, and Kim Yong-dae, president of the North's Socialist Democratic Party, and students in Pyongyang, the KCBS reported. Last year, the North staged mass outdoor rallies denouncing what they call U.S. imperialist ambitions to invade the communist country and put the whole Korean Peninsula under its influence. The North seemed to have decided to scale down the event in view of the chief U.S. nuclear envoy's surprise 24-hour visit late last week, some analysts said. Upon his return from the trip, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said the North expressed willingness to promptly shut down its nuclear reactor under a February deal over its denuclearization in return for massive energy aid. However, the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency continued to claim that the Korean War was provoked intentionally by the U.S. to realize its ambition to dominate the world. The conflict ended in 1953 with an armistice between the U.S.-led U.N. Command, North Korea and its communist ally China. However, the two Koreas are still technically at war due to the absence of a peace treaty. South Korea is not a signatory to the agreement because it was opposed to stopping the war. Currently, about 30,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War. The U.S. plans to cut the number to 25,000 by 2008. (Yonhap) |
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