|
Nationwide Anti-U.S. Rallies on Korean War Anniversary Day
 |
| Hundreds of
thousands of North Koreans marked the war with anti-U.S.
demos.
|
SEOUL,
June 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - North Korea staged
nationwide anti-U.S. rallies Tuesday, June 25, to mark the 52nd
anniversary of the Korean War, the North’s state media reported.
Rallies
in towns and cities across the communist state adopted resolutions
vowing to take “a thousand-fold revenge upon the U.S. imperialists
and wipe them out to the last man if they unleash a war in Korea
again,” Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Ceremonies
were held in North and South Korea to mark the outbreak of the war
which left an estimated three million dead.
The
United States led a 16-nation force that fought with the capitalist
South against North Korea after troops from the communist North
crossed the Cold War frontier June 25, 1950.
Fighting
ended in July 1953 with an armistice, but no peace treaty has ever
been signed, leaving the rival Koreas in a state of permanent alert.
North
Korea has never established relations with the United States and ties
were strained again after U.S. President George W. Bush described the
communist state was part of a so-called “axis of evil” allegedly
spreading weapons of mass destruction.
“The
country is swept by waves of rallies condemning the U.S. imperialist
aggressors on the occasion of ‘June 25, The Day of Struggle Against
The U.S. Imperialists’,” reported the North’s official Korean
Central News Agency (KCNA).
It
added that one rally of agriculture workers was held in the city of
Sinchon “to vow revenge”.
“The
speakers at the rallies said that the Korean War, provoked by the U.S.
imperialists, was a criminal war of aggression to impose colonial
slavery upon the Korean people” and also aimed “to massacre
civilians”.
The
report said rallies denounced U.S. forces for reducing “peaceful
cities, farming and fishing villages, hospitals, kindergartens and
nurseries of Korea to ashes by indiscriminate bombing and bombardment
and committing unprecedented mass killings.”
KCNA
said “the rallies evinced the resolutions of the agricultural
workers and women to take a thousand-fold revenge upon the U.S.
Imperialists and wipe them out to the last man if they unleash a war
in Korea again.”
Meanwhile,
in South Korea, veterans of the Korean War saw their annual
commemoration Tuesday of the war overshadowed by World Cup football
and called for greater acknowledgement of their efforts.
The
main ceremony to commemorate the 52nd anniversary of the outbreak of
the war was held at the national cemetery in Seoul in the presence of
Prime Minister Lee Han-Dong and the heads of the South Korean army,
navy and air force.
But
in a speech, Korean Veterans Association (KVA) chairman Lee Sang-Hoon
said even the World Cup would not have been possible without the
sacrifices of the soldiers.
“Without
the bravery and sacrifice of these war veterans who took the lead to
save Korea, we could not afford to enjoy today's full lives, national
prosperity, futuristic visions and the World Cup finals,” Lee said,
quoted by AFP.
He
added that the national unity behind South Korea's World Cup team,
which has reached the semi-finals of the event, should be turned into
a more patriotic fervor.
In
the presence of 3,000 people, including veterans and the families of
some of the estimated three million people killed in the Korean War,
112 remains from the hostilities found over the past year were buried
at the national cemetery.
For
the 50th anniversary of the war two years ago, thousands of foreign
veterans came to Korea to take part in events. But this year, only 51
foreign veterans from the United States, the Netherlands, South Africa
and Greece visited Korea at the invitation of the KVA.
A
KVA spokesman said that the World Cup “may have affected” numbers
taking part in commemoration ceremonies. Millions of South Koreans
have taken to the streets to back the national football team.
President
Kim sent letters to Korean War veterans apologizing for “not being
able to thank you enough for your great deeds. I promise more
involvement and more efforts in the future.”
Kim
added: “We owe the freedom, democracy and prosperity that we enjoy
today to the blood and sweat you veterans shed.”
|
