Joe Biden effigies are being burnt in North Korea after it lashed out over a new nuclear cooperation deal between South Korea and the US.
The effigies of the US president and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk Yeol, were burned at youth rallies denouncing “war monster dotard” Mr Biden and “his special-class puppet traitor”, according to Seoul-based NK News, citing its analysis of North Korean state media.
The outlet also reported an uptick of anti-US and South Korea propaganda posters being erected in the North amid attempts by the authorities to whip up public anger over the strengthening ties between Seoul and Washington and the regime’s perception of a rising military threat against Pyongyang.
South Korea and the US signed the landmark “Washington Declaration” during a state visit by Mr Yoon last week, which pledges to give Seoul a stronger voice in nuclear planning operations and to periodically deploy US nuclear-armed submarines to the Korean peninsula.
In return, South Korea has agreed to not develop its own nuclear weapons, despite growing public calls for it to do so.
The deal was immediately denounced by Pyongyang, where Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister Kim Yo Jong warned it would lead to “more serious danger”, adding that the North’s nuclear deterrent “should be brought to further perfection”.
Ms Kim’s outburst was followed by state media reports of government-backed rallies this week calling for “exterminating” the allies, and propaganda posters and slogans “posted all around the country” in order to “rev up the hatred and desire for thousandfold revenge that has accumulated over the years,” reported NK News.
The reports by the North’s KCNA have so far not included images of the effigies or the new posters but are said to carry slogans urging citizens to “Mercilessly beat the American Empire to death!” and to support the state’s national defence development.
The effigies were reportedly burned outside the Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities, which contains graphic exhibits of alleged US and South Korean war crimes from the 1950-53 Korean War.
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