North Korea holds mass games on WPK founding anniversary amid COVID-19 scare: Report

North Korea last week celebrated the 75th founding anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea with tens of thousands of people despite COVID-19 pandemic concerns. Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and other members of the WPK were greeted by thousands of people gathered to mark the diamond jubilee of the party. According to North's state-owned news agency KCNA, mass games with gymnastics and artistic performances were held on Sunday, October 11 as Kim attended the event with his entourage. 

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Mass Games, which attracts a lot of tourists in the country especially from neighbouring China, is kind of a festival where performers exhibit gymnastic skills with a fervour of nationalism wrapped around it. North Korea restarted the mass games in 2018 following a temporary pause of five years. The games are marred by child abuse allegations as observers and defectors from the country accuse that the regime uses illegitimate means to train the performers. 

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During Sunday's event, Kim Jong Un and his aides were photographed without any face covering. If North Korean government statistics are to be believed, there is not a single case of COVID-19 in the country, a disease that is raging havoc across the world and originated from neighbouring China.  

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National art exhibition

According to KCNA, apart from mass games and military parade, a national art exhibition had also opened in the capital last week depicting the images of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il, who played a vital role in setting up the party and its further development. The exhibition will continue until November 3. The ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) was founded on October 10, 1945, by Kim Jong Un's grandfather, who also founded the country after the war against the South. 

On October 8, the National Symphony Orchestra performed a concert at the Moranbong Theatre to celebrate the 75th founding anniversary of the WPK. The state-owned news agency informed that the performance began with the orchestral music "Song Dedicated to Motherly Party". Several other orchestras also performed to commemorate the 75th founding day of WPK. 

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(Image Credit: AP)