U.S. says ready to defend against N. Korea’s possible nuclear attack

Last month, South and North Korea agreed to hold the reunions for 100 separated family members from each side on October. 20-26 at a scenic resort on Mount Kumgang on the North’s east coast. Behind them is a monument to the Workers Party, an imposing symbol of North Korea’s only ruling party that turns 70 on Saturday. It also has conducted missile tests in defiance of worldwide warnings and sanctions. China, a key ally of North, has been sending mixed signals over its proximity to Pyongyang in recent years.

“I don’t think this is a sign that both countries are proactively seeking a warmer or a stronger relationship”, said Zhang Liangui, an expert on North Korea at the Central Party School in Beijing.

Liu’s visit to Pyongyang comes as speculation that North Korea will launch a long-range rocket around the anniversary has subsided.

Pyongyang has tried to turn on the charm ahead of the anniversary.

Kim, however, continues to be the target of global condemnation for arbitrarily detaining and purging North Koreans.

You’ll often see North Korean young people dancing in large group formations. “A slowdown in revenues will create discontent”.

The draw against one of Asia’s top caliber teams was even more astounding for the Azkals as the game was held in North Korea and the home squad was cheered endlessly on by the crowd.

Xinhua said Liu’s visit would last four days.

And the scale of the preparatory effort was visible from the start of the drive from Pyongyang’s new worldwide airport into the city proper.

Back in August, North Korea threatened to attack the United States over holding multinational military exercises with thousands of military forces mainly from South Korea and also Australia, Britain, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France and New Zealand.

“The North’s KN-09 could strike most of our military’s runways”.

“We want to celebrate in the most significant way”, Sin Un Gyong, a North Korean student told CNN’s Will Ripley in Pyongyang. The value of those exports past year was $2.9 billion, Chinese customs data show. State media blamed Mr. Jang for “selling off precious resources of the country at cheap prices”.

“Although North Korea quickly had put into place the apparatus of the police state, Kim’s personal power was still far from absolute”, Martin writes, describing how Kim Illinois Sung merged two leftist parties to create the Workers’ Party, with himself as leader.

“This is an important opportunity for North Korea”, said Shi Yongming, an associate research fellow at the China Institute of worldwide Studies in Beijing.

AFP reported on Wednesday that average North Koreans in Pyongyang are being forced to pay extra for a variety of common goods in order to fund the parade, “everything from electronic goods to food and home fuel”, according to reports from a South Korea-based news agency.

Millions of people were separated during the Korean War that sealed the division between the two countries. North Korea also has tried to reboot plans for foreign investment in special economic zones-with little success, say foreign officials.