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The central square of the North Korean capital Pyongyang was packed Thursday night with crowds of people who turned out to watch the New Year’s concert and fireworks, amid restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. The images were broadcast even by the state press from the most isolated state in the world, under an authoritarian dictatorship, Reuters reports, taken over by Agerpres.
Public television showed participants in the festivities wearing face masks, but standing close to each other, with balloons and lights in their hands, in Kim Ir Sen Square.
The performers, who were not wearing protective masks, sang and danced on a stage decorated with a huge and colorful “2021.” Giant snowmen beat the cadence, while singers performed patriotic songs with refrains such as “Glory to General Kim Jong Un” and “I love my country more.”
However, the festivities were clearly more limited in scope than in previous years, said Colin Zwirko, a correspondent for NK News based in Seoul, South Korea.
North Korea has claimed that it is not contaminated with the new coronavirus, although it has conducted thousands of tests, and the North Korean government has almost completely closed the country’s borders and taken other strict measures to prevent the outbreak. However, officials in South Korea and the United States doubt that there were any cases of infection.
In October, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw a military parade in the same Pyongyang square where thousands of masked soldiers marched.
North Korea is preparing for a large ruling party congress this week, the exact date of which has not been announced, but according to the state news agency KCNA, delegates have already started arriving in the capital.
Editor: Luana Pavaluca
