North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits the Liberation Tower with his wife Ri Sol-ju and daughter Ju-ae on Friday to mark the 81st anniversary of liberation, North Korean state television reported Saturday. [Captured from Korean Central Television]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits the Liberation Tower with his wife Ri Sol-ju and daughter Ju-ae on Friday to mark the 81st anniversary of liberation, North Korean state television reported Saturday. [Captured from Korean Central Television]

North Korea had not issued any official response by Sunday morning to President Lee Jae-myung's Liberation Day address, in which he proposed multilateral talks among the parties to the Korean War to formally end the conflict.

North Korean state media, including KCNA and the Rodong Sinmun, carried no coverage of the South's Liberation Day ceremony, instead focusing exclusively on domestic events marking the 81st anniversary of what Pyongyang calls "Fatherland Liberation Day."

In his address at the 81st Liberation Day ceremony on Saturday, Lee said he would "embark on the journey to end the war and transform the Korean Peninsula's unstable armistice regime into a peace regime," calling on all parties to "set aside mutual threats and begin talks among the parties to end this long war." It was the first time Lee had put forward a concrete multilateral framework for end-of-war discussions on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korean media, by contrast, gave detailed coverage of internal events held across the country to mark the occasion and reinforce ideological unity.

North Korean citizens paid tribute at sites including the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il on Mansu Hill, the Taesongsan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery and the Hyesan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery. They also visited the Museum of the Korean Revolution, toured revolutionary battle sites, and held gatherings to recite memoirs of anti-Japanese partisans along with oratory competitions.

The North Korean flag was raised at major institutions and schools in Pyongyang and the provinces. The Mansudae Art Troupe staged a celebratory performance at the Dongpyongyang Grand Theater, while the one-act play "The Person I'm Looking For" was performed at the National Theater. Crowds also gathered at major restaurants including Okryu-gwan and Gyeongamsan Noodle Restaurant, as well as at leisure facilities such as the Wonsan Kalma Beach Tourism Zone and the Munsu Water Park, state media reported.

Sporting and cultural events included a "Torch Cup" football match between the Taedonggang and Torch teams at Kim Il-sung Stadium. The Korean Democratic Women's Union held a dance party at Arch of Triumph Square, while a youth evening gathering and fireworks display took place at Kim Il-sung Square after dark.

Meanwhile, congratulatory messages arrived from leaders of friendly nations. Nicaraguan co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo said in their message that they would "continue to struggle together to build a peaceful and secure world, a world where people enjoy an independent and free life, a world of justice." Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also sent a message of congratulations, while Equatorial Guinea delivered a floral basket in the name of an adviser to its Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Forestry.


sunpine@heraldcorp.com