North Korea gears up to celebrate birthday of country’s founder

PYONGYANG, North Korea – Amid rising regional tensions, Pyongyang residents have been preparing for North Korea’s most important holiday: the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country’s late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un.

Saturday’s holiday, known as the Day of the Sun, normally includes an immense military parade and synchronized public performances, sometimes involving tens of thousands of people. Pyongyang residents have been seen practicing.

Tensions have spiked amid fears in the West that North Korea is preparing for another round of nuclear or missile tests. There’s also anger in Pyongyang over the annual spring military exercises that the U.S. holds with South Korea.

In a show of force a few days ago, the U.S. dispatched what President Donald Trump called an “armada” of ships, including an aircraft carrier, into waters off the Korean Peninsula.

Pyongyang says the military exercises are practice for an invasion of North Korea, and has warned of a nuclear attack on the United States in retaliation for any signs of aggression. That threat, however, has been made numerous times in the past.