(LEAD) N. Korea revs up festive mood ahead of Victory Day

▲ This photo, carried by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on July 21, 2023, shows residents attending an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, which the North celebrates as Victory Day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

▲ This photo, carried by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on July 21, 2023, shows residents attending an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, which the North celebrates as Victory Day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) N Korea-key anniversary

(LEAD) N. Korea revs up festive mood ahead of Victory Day

(ATTN: ADDS details, assessment by unification ministry official in last six paras)

SEOUL, July 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea will hold a grand ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the armistice of the Korean War, state media reported Tuesday, including celebrations that will bring its first known official foreign guests in years.

North Korea is set to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, signed July 27, 1953, this week. The North refers to the conflict as the Great Fatherland Liberation War and the day of the armistice signing as Victory Day.

"Celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Great Fatherland Liberation War will be held in a grand manner that will go down in history in the capital city of Pyongyang," the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The KCNA said the event will serve as a "meaningful occasion to powerfully boast the unwavering belief and will of all people, soldiers and new generations who will continue to take the past 70 years of glory of shielding victory to the next 700 and 7,000 years."

Observers speculate the North may utilize this year's celebrations, including a military parade, as a means to solidify domestic unity following a failed satellite launch in late May and continuing economic hardships.

It also comes as the North appears to have lifted its mask mandate this month. It even invited a Chinese delegation led by Li Hongzhong, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, to the upcoming ceremony.

The invitation, which the KCNA announced late Monday, marks the first known case in which the secretive regime has officially invited foreign guests to the country since imposing rigid border lockdowns to protect against the pandemic.

Prior to the Chinese delegation's invitation, the North had allowed the entry of Ambassador Wang Yajun, Beijing's top envoy to Pyongyang, in March. Wang was appointed to the post in February 2021, but his arrival had been delayed due to the North's tight border control.

Despite the partial resumption of cargo transportation between North Korea and China last year, Pyongyang has maintained strict control of people-to-people exchange across borders.

An official at Seoul's unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, cautiously projected that the reclusive regime may be preparing to reopen its border after more than three years of lockdown.

"While it's too early to assess whether North Korea is fully reopening its border, there has been an overall easing of antivirus measures and signs of preparations to participate in an international sporting event," the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

North Korea is set to take part in this year's Asian Games, scheduled to kick off in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, in late September.

The official said that the reopening of the North's border appears to be a matter of time, but stopped short of offering a clear time frame of when it might occur.

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