PYONGYANG, North Korea, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- North Korea staged a well-rehearsed celebration of 60 years of communist rule in Pyongyang Monday under the eye of leader Kim Jong-Il.
As Kim stood high above the city's square clapping, thousands of troops goose-stepped past, and thousands of people waved banners and placards, shouting pro-Workers Party slogans, the BBC reported.
A senior Chinese envoy also stood on the platform, and Russia's Pravda agency said Cuban leader Fidel Castro sent congratulations, saying over the past decade, Cuba and North Korea have faced "a complex and difficult situation after changes at the international level, including an increase in hostility and aggression by the American government."
In a televised address Sunday night, North Korean Vice-Marshal Kim Il-chol said "should the U.S. and Japanese imperialists and their follower forces persist in lighting the flames of war in this land, we will mercilessly crush the aggressors and achieve the historic cause of the fatherland's reunification," referring to North and South Korea.
