By Park Ji-won
North Korea will not hold an anti-U.S. rally it holds annually to mark the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, as it prepares to return the remains of American soldiers killed in the war this week.
White House National Security Council (NSC) spokesman Robert Palladino said he welcomed the North's consecutive reconciliatory moves.
“There is great momentum now for positive change, and we are moving together quickly for further negotiations,” Palladino was quoted as saying to Radio Free Asia.
North Korea has held the anti-U.S. demonstration on the day the war between the two Koreas that separated the peninsula broke out in 1950, to strengthen nationalism and unite its people. This June 25 marks the 68th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. Last year's event reportedly involved 100,000 people.
The North's media toned down its anti-Washington reports and editorials before and after the Singapore summit between Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump possibly to create a conciliatory mood.
Until recently in its propaganda, North Korean media had habitually used the expression “U.S. imperialists,” adding that America has been the archenemy of Pyongyang for decades.
Last year its Workers' Party newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, lambasted the U.S. saying, “the blood of the people is boiling for revenge” against the “U.S. imperialists,” in an editorial.
However, the North apparently softened its tone Tuesday by simply mentioning the U.S. as “a strong enemy.” The state-run paper said, “Every year on this day, our army and people row the ship of memories, full of belief and determination to defend the nation.”
Critics point out the North's move could be tentative, but forward-looking.
“This is the first time for the North to omit the expression U.S. imperialism, possibly because of improving relations between the two countries, except when the North refrained from hostile expressions around the announcement of the North-U.S. joint communique in October 2000,” Hong Min, chief analyst of the Korea Institute for National Unification said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said he “will cooperate quickly with the North to find the war remains and lay them in state.”