North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to mobilise all means to deal a "death-blow" to the country's enemy without hesitation should it opt for military confrontation with North Korea, state media said on Thursday.
"There are also issues of preventing the birth rate from falling and well nurturing children," he said at the fifth National Meeting of Mothers that opened on Sunday in Pyongyang.
Kim expressed "sincere regard" for Russia's aviation technology undergoing rapid development and "outpacing the outside potential threats", it added.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited cemeteries to pay respects to the country's soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War and to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the armistice, state media said on Wednesday.
North Korea called its failed attempt to launch a purported military reconnaissance satellite the "most serious" shortcoming in the first half of this year and reaffirmed its pledge to put it into orbit soon, Pyongyang's state media said on Monday.
We do not know if the hermit kingdom is also battling the virus; it is much too closeted to share its data on public health. Yet we do know that however isolated, the omnipotent President Kim has reinstated his powerful younger sister to a key decision-making entity.
This year the North has cancelled several elements of the annual commemorations, including the Pyongyang Marathon, usually its biggest tourist money-spinner of the year.
The firings came on the eve of the 108th birthday of Kim Il-sung, the North's national founder and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.
Pyongyang has taken relatively drastic anti-virus measures by closing its borders with China, where the coronavirus originated in late December.
North Korea is among just a few countries in the world that claim to have no coronavirus infections, generating speculation that it might be hiding an outbreak.
