North Korea 'quietly' celebrates 76th founding anniversary of its ruling party

North Korea quietly marked the 76th founding anniversary of its ruling party, as none of the local media covered stories related to the celebrations.

However, the media reports published tonnes of news bolstering the efforts of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in developing the country even at the crucial time of the COVID pandemic. Notably, North Korea used to celebrate the founding anniversary of its ruling party on October 10 with their iconic military parade and several other shows depicting the strength of the forces.

According to the local media reports, North Korea pledged to celebrate every 5th and 10th anniversary with grand events including missile launches and parades of troops.

They also have a tradition of showcasing strategic weapons and other military hardware. However, this year, all these mega-events were found missing and only the Supreme Leader could be seen delivering a speech during an event in Pyongyang on Sunday. 

According to the reports of the Associated Press, independent journalists were not given access to cover the event which was attended by the country's Supreme Leader. 

Kim Jong-un pledged to develop North Korea during 76th Founding anniversary

The media report said that Kim Jong-Un urged officials to overcome the "grim situation" that has ravaged people's lives since the COVID pandemic engulfed the whole world. Quoting Kim Jong-un, the official Korean Central News Agency said that the supreme leader has pledged to strengthen the country's crawling economy and reiterated the developmental goals set by his party earlier this year.

Notably, in January this year, Kim Jong-un accepted that his earlier economic plans hadn't worked and also issued new development strategies for the next five years.

North Korea opens borders for WHO aid after two years

Earlier on October 7, the World Health Organisation said that it shipped COVID medical supplies to North Korea after a gap of over two years.

WHO's announcement implied that the Korean country has now started easing one of the world's strictest pandemic border closures to receive outside help.

Notably, North Korea had closed its international borders about two years ago in order to secure the country from the strain of the deadly pandemic. It had also shut the borders for international trade that left the country's economy in crawling condition.

With inputs from AP

Image: AP