North Koreans celebrate holiday with familiar routines
PYONGYANG, Korea, Democratic People’s Republic Of — North Koreans on Saturday celebrated another public holiday with familiar routines, laying flowers and bowing in front of statues and portraits of past leaders while the outside world kept a close watch amid speculations that another missile test is near.
South Korea’s government earlier said North Korea could potentially mark the 69th founding anniversary with its third test of a developmental intercontinental ballistic missile.
But no weapons test was detected from North Korea as of Saturday afternoon, as people in capital Pyongyang went through customary practices of showing loyalty to late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the father of third-generation leader Kim Jong Un.
This year’s anniversary came just after North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date last weekend, which it claimed as a detonation of a thermonuclear weapon built for its ICBMs. The North flight-tested its developmental Hwasong-14 ICBMs twice in July and analysis of flight data suggested that the missiles could reach deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.