Seoul, South Korea | Under the watchful eye of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, his sister and close advisor Kim Yo Jong, soldiers displayed martial arts at a defense exhibition.
• Read also: Kim Jong-un accuses Washington of being the “root cause” of tensions
With all smiles, he looked at a man lying on broken bottles with a concrete block placed on his chest before being broken with a sledgehammer, according to pictures broadcast by KCTV on Tuesday.
Ri Chun Hee, the regime’s favorite lieutenant colonel, Ri Chun Hee, commented, “These soldiers, who were embraced and nurtured by our Party, showed the whole world the strength, courage and morale of the KPA.”
Ms. Ri did not fail to point out that the strength of the participants “was given to them by our dear leader Kim Jong Un.”
This sequence is part of the resistance display organized by the North Korean military during this defense exhibition, which was an opportunity to showcase the weapons possessed by this nuclear-powered country, in particular the recently revealed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). General during a military parade.
Other soldiers (some in uniform, some without shirts) smashed several layers of cement bricks with punches or heads.
Others were hit with hammers in the arm or hand, and a brick was broken in the chest of a soldier lying on a bed of nails.
The leader watched the demonstrations with applause and a smile, surrounded by officers and his sister Kim Jong Un, who was appointed at the end of September to the country’s highest executive body.
Korea has a long tradition of martial arts, and it is noted that it is the birthplace of Taekwondo, the art of self-control.
It was developed after Korea was occupied by Japan by a South Korean general who later fell out with dictator Park Chung-hee, who was backed by the South Korean military.
Then he traveled regularly to Pyongyang, where he died in 2002.
Opening the exhibition on Tuesday, the North Korean leader said the United States is the “root cause” of instability on the Korean peninsula.
It was organized on the occasion of the anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang.