N. Korea steps up anti-U.S. propaganda on war anniversary

SEOUL, June 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea ratcheted up its anti-U.S. propaganda
Thursday to coincide with the 59th anniversary of the start of the Korean War,
escalating already high tensions with Washington after Pyongyang's recent nuclear
test and military provocations.
A lecture hall in the North's border town of Kaesong, the site of a troubled
inter-Korean industrial complex, held a war memorial exhibition displaying
"hundreds of historical and cultural artifacts" destroyed by the Americans during
the Korean War, Radio Pyongyang reported.
"Attendants hardened their will for revenge after seeing such evidence," it said.
The U.S. has 28,500 troops stationed in the South as a deterrent against North
Korea. It fought on the South Korean side under the U.N. command in the 1950-1953
Korean War, which ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
The North's belligerent rhetoric towards the U.S. escalated recently after the
U.N. Security Council passed a new resolution condemning Pyongyang's second
nuclear test on May 25. The resolution imposes an overall arms embargo and
tougher financial sanctions than those under previous resolutions in 2006 when
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test.
"The U.S., the warmonger that provoked the Korean War, is using our successful
second nuclear test to drag the U.N. into its useless attempt to oppressively
stifle us," Radio Pyongyang said.
The North's state-run Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported that similar
halls in other regions of the country were "actively holding lectures on
atrocities by the United States" for people working in nearby factories and
farms.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)





De