Tens of thousands of North Koreans have marched in anti-US rallies over the weekend, pledging “merciless” revenge against “US imperialists”, as the country marked the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War.

More than 120,000 people participated in Sunday’s mass rallies in the nation’s capital, Pyongyang, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

While the 1950-53 conflict was triggered by a North Korean surprise attack, the demonstrators mobilised in Pyongyang promoted their government’s version of events and accused the United States of provoking the war and leaving Koreans with “wounds … that can never be healed”.

North Korea rally
The poster reads “Tens of millions of people pledge to defy death for defending country!” (AP)

Meanwhile in South Korea, a North Korean defector-turned-activist said he flew balloons carrying some 200,000 anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets and Covid-19 medical supplies across the border on Sunday night, continuing a campaign that has often triggered angry responses from the North.

Photos sent by Park Sang-hak showed a placard with a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a message that highlighted how his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, was responsible for starting the Korean War. The North has not commented on Mr Park’s latest ballooning stunt.

North Korea is extremely sensitive about any outside attempt to undermine Mr Kim’s leadership and weaken his absolute control over the country’s 26 million people.

North Korean rally
North Koreans also celebrated the country’s nuclear programme (AP)

At the rallies on Sunday, North Koreans also expressed pride in Mr Kim’s expanding nuclear weapons and missile programmes, insisting their country now has the “strongest absolute weapon to punish the US imperialists and the war deterrence for self-defence which no enemy dare provoke”.

Photos published by the North’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed a stadium packed with likely tens of thousands of people in Covid-19 masks, raising their fists in the air and holding signs that read: “Let’s eradicate US imperialist invaders”, and: “The entire US mainland is within our striking range.”

The rallies came amid heightened tensions in the region, as the pace of North Korean weapons demonstrations and the United States’ joint military exercises with South Korea have both intensified in a cycle of tit-for-tat.

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-fired around 100 missiles of various ranges as Kim attempts to display a dual ability to conduct nuclear strikes on both the US mainland and South Korea.

North Korea
Tens of thousands took part in the rallies (AP Photo/Cha Song Ho)

The North is also speeding up efforts to launch its first military reconnaissance satellite into orbit, following a failed first attempt in May.

There are signs that North Korea is planning a huge military parade in Pyongyang where it would likely showcase its new military hardware.

Recent commercial satellite images have shown troop and vehicle movements and the building of structures suggestive of preparations for a parade, likely for the July 27 anniversary of the Korean War armistice agreement.