North Korea calm amid talk of war
Pyongyang residents ready to fight
PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA — As the world braced for a provocative missile launch by North Korea, with newscasts worldwide playing up tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the centre of the storm remains strangely calm.
The focus in Pyongyang on Wednesday was less on preparing for war and more on beautifying the capital ahead of the nation’s biggest holiday: the April 15 birthday of the nation’s founder, Kim Il Sung. Soldiers put down their rifles to blanket the barren ground with sod and students picked up shovels to help plant trees.
But the impoverished, tightly controlled nation that has historically used major holidays to draw the world’s attention by showing off its military power could well mark the occasion by testing a missile designed to strike U.S. military installations in Japan and Guam.
South Korea’s foreign minister said the prospect of a medium-range missile launch is “considerably high.”
North Korean officials have not announced plans to launch a missile in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions barring Pyongyang from nuclear and missile activity.
But they have told foreign diplomats in Pyongyang that they will not be able to guarantee their safety starting Wednesday and urged tourists in South Korea to take cover, warning that a nuclear war is imminent. Most diplomats and foreign residents in both capitals appeared to be staying put.
The European Union said there was no need for member states to evacuate or relocate their diplomatic missions, but it called on North Korea to “refrain from further provocative declarations or action.”
On the streets of Pyongyang, there was no sense of panic.
Downtown, schoolchildren marched toward statues of the two late leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, dragging brooms to sweep the hilltop plaza where they tower over Pyongyang. Women with coats thrown over traditional dresses rushed through the spring chill after leaving a rehearsal for a dance planned for Kim Il Sung’s birthday celebrations.
At the base of Mansu Hill, a group of young people held a small rally to pledge their loyalty to Kim Jong Un and to sing the Kim ode, “We Will Defend the Marshal With Our Lives.”
Kim Un Chol, the 40-yearold head of a political unit at Pyongyang’s tobacco factory, said he had been discharged from the military but was willing to re-enlist if war breaks out. He said North Koreans were resolute.
“The people of Pyongyang are confident. They know we can win any war,” he told The Associated Press. “We now have nuclear weapons. So you won’t see any worry on people’s faces, even if the situation is tense.”
Kim Jong Il elevated the military’s role during his 17-year rule under a policy of “military first,” and the government devotes a significant chunk of its annual budget to defence. Human rights groups say the massive spending on the military and on development of missile and nuclear technology comes at the expense of most of its 24 million people. Two-thirds face chronic food shortages, according to the World Food Programme.
North Koreans are taught from childhood to hate the U.S. and to gird against an invasion by “imperialists” intent on taking over the entire Korean Peninsula.
Guns and tanks are popular toys for children and young North Koreans learn to fire guns when they are teenagers, residents say. As young adults, they attend camps to learn military techniques.