North Korea will hold a major gathering this week for thousands of Korean War veterans, state media announced Monday, saying participants arrived in Pyongyang by plane over the weekend.

The Seventh National Conference of War Veterans may be held around July 27, the anniversary of the end of the Korean War, but satellite imagery also suggests it may have already happened or that it’s a multi-day event.

Kim Jong Un made a speech at the Sixth National Conference of War Veterans in 2020, and authorities signaled confidence in the success of domestic COVID-19 measures at the time by disregarding their own mask and social distancing policies and packing at-risk elderly citizens in a full auditorium.

Veterans of the Korean War, which ended in 1953, are all likely over 80 years old.

CELEBRATING THE WAR ANNIVERSARY 

In accordance with tradition, North Korean state media has heavily featured propaganda about the war over the last month, glorifying it as a victory over the “U.S. imperialists.” 

A new propaganda campaign this year has also encouraged people to overcome current economic hardship and a “food crisis” by emulating what it describes as the 1950s post-war period of great ideological unity and national reconstruction. 

In his speech at the veterans conference last year, Kim declared that the country’s successful attainment of nuclear weapons would prevent another war but that Koreans must “never forget” the “brutal nature of U.S. imperialism.”

The fifth veterans conference was held in July 2018, the fourth in 2015, the third in 2013 and the second in 2012. Kim only publicly attended the conferences in 2015 and 2020, but he took group photos with veterans after all of the events except in 2020.

Prior 2018, North Korea also held rallies denouncing the “murderous American devils” around the July 27 anniversary. State media then dialed back public anti-U.S sentiment when the two sides began denuclearization negotiations, but active anti-U.S. education has otherwise continued behind the scenes.

ACTIVITY IN PYONGYANG

NK News analysis of Planet Labs satellite imagery shows that planes were being prepared and flying out from Pyongyang International Airport between July 16 and 23 and that two Air Koryo planes landed at the east coast Orang Airport on July 23.

The parking lot of the April 25 Hotel in southeast Pyongyang was also full of buses between July 18 and 22, and the parking lot of the April 25 House of Culture — where the veterans conference was held last year — was full on July 24 and 25.

These activities suggest that conference participants may have arrived in Pyongyang earlier last week instead of just on July 25, as state media reported on Monday, and that the event may have taken place over the weekend instead of in the coming days.

At least some veterans, whether based locally or in other parts of the country, already participated in smaller events with youth and women’s organizations in recent days, according to state media.

However, state media has yet to report on a major party congress on agriculture that was initially slated for early July. This event could also account for the recent activity in Pyongyang over the past few days.

Meanwhile, Kim Jong Un could attend the veterans conference and make a speech again like he did last year. Satellite imagery shows that Kim’s largest pool boat returned to storage between July 23 and 24 after sailing to his Wonsan palace earlier this month a day after his last public appearance.

Edited by Arius Derr