North Korea on Thursday urged its 1.2 million troops to unite behind leader Kim Jong-un and defend him with their lives as it marked the 10th anniversary of his ascension to supreme commander of the military.
Earlier this month, North Korea commemorated 10 years since the death of former leader Kim Jong-il.
Born in January 1984, Kim Jong-un is the youngest son of Kim Jong-il.
After his father's death from a sudden heart attack on December 17, 2011, he assumed power, beginning a period of manoeuvres back and forth with the outside world.
The anniversary of Mr Kim's ascension comes as North Korea is holding a key multi-day political conference in which officials are expected to discuss how to address difficulties brought by the pandemic and long-dormant diplomacy with the US.
Some experts say Mr Kim has been grappling with the toughest moment of his 10-year rule due to the coronavirus pandemic, UN sanctions and his own mismanagement.
In a lengthy editorial, the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said that North Korea's military commanders and soldiers must become an “impregnable fortress and bulletproof walls in devotedly defending (Kim) with their lives”.
It also called for the building of a more modern, advanced military that serves as a “reliable guardian of our state and people”. The editorial said all of North Korea’s troops and people must uphold Kim’s leadership to establish a powerful socialist country.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un celebrating the test-firing of a 'newly developed super-large multiple rocket launcher' at an undisclosed location. AFP -
A uranium enrichment plant at North Korea's main Yongbyon nuclear complex. AP -
A test missile is launched from a train in an undisclosed location of North Korea. AP -
People in Seoul, South Korea, watch a news report on North Korea firing what appears to be a pair of ballistic missiles off its east coast. Reuters -
A map detailing North Korea's missile launch towards the Sea of Japan, part of a news broadcast at Akihabara, Tokyo. AFP -
Kim Jong-un attending a military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean People's Army at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang. AFP -
Kim Jong-un is all smiles as he watches the military parade in the North Korean capital Pyongyang. AFP -
What appears to be submarine-launched ballistic missiles are displayed, marking the eighth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang. AFP -
Hwasong-12 ballistic at Kim Il-sung Square, Pyongyang. AFP
Observers say North Korea will be likely to disclose Mr Kim’s stances on relations with Washington and Seoul, the deadlocked nuclear diplomacy and the economic hardships at the end of the plenary meeting expected later this week.
An arsenal of as many as 60 nuclear weapons, by some estimates, with the means to add as many as 18 more a year, has allowed Mr Kim to solidify domestic unity and achieve some measure of the global prestige he’s long coveted.
Crushing UN sanctions over that weapons build-up may be giving Mr Kim the hardest moment of his rule, observers say, but those weapons are no closer to being wrenched away by outside negotiators than they were when his father died.
Mr Kim has staged an unusually large number of weapons tests. And four of North Korea’s six nuclear test explosions and all of its three intercontinental ballistic missile tests have happened during his rule.
