N.Korea revs up festive mood ahead of Victory Day

Seoul, July 25 North Korea will hold a grand ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the armistice of the Korean War, including celebrations that will bring its first known official foreign guests in years, Pyongyang's state media said on Tuesday.

North Korea is set to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, signed July 27, 1953, this week, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The North refers to the conflict as the Great Fatherland Liberation War and the day of the armistice signing as Victory Day.

"Celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Great Fatherland Liberation War will be held in a grand manner that will go down in history in the capital city of Pyongyang," the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a report.

The KCNA said the event will serve as a "meaningful occasion to powerfully boast the unwavering belief and will of all people, soldiers and new generations who will continue to take the past 70 years of glory of shielding victory to the next 700 and 7,000 years".

Observers speculate the North may utilise this year's celebrations, including a military parade, as a means to solidify domestic unity following a failed satellite launch in May and continuing economic hardships.

It also comes as the North appears to have lifted its mask mandate this month.

It even invited a Chinese delegation led by Li Hongzhong, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, to the upcoming ceremony.

The invitation, which the KCNA announced late Monday, marks the first known case in which the secretive regime has officially invited foreign guests to the country since imposing rigid border lockdowns to protect against the pandemic.

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