A picture of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong (R) and North Korean late leader Kim Il Sung displayed on the Hekou Broken Bridge, which once connected China and North Korea before it was bombed by the US army in the 1950s during the Korean War along Yalu River in Hekou of Dandong Kuandian Manchu Autonomous County, Liaoning Province, China. Photo by HOW HWEE YOUNG / EPA
July 27 (Asia Today) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited three cemeteries honoring Korean War soldiers, anti-Japanese guerrillas and Chinese troops as Pyongyang marked the 73rd anniversary of the armistice that halted fighting in the 1950-53 war.
Kim visited the cemeteries Sunday in a series of appearances intended to promote loyalty and internal unity while highlighting North Korea's recently strengthened relationship with China, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Monday.
North Korea celebrates July 27, the date the 1953 armistice was signed, as Victory Day. The agreement ended combat but was never replaced by a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula technically at war.
At the Fatherland Liberation War Martyrs Cemetery, Kim met Korean War veterans and wished them good health and long lives.
