N. Korea's youth holds rally against S. Korea

North Korean youths holds a protest rally at the Youth Park Open-Air Theatre in Pyongyang over joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, March 22. Yonhap

North Korean youth and students held a rally to denounce a recent agreement reached by the leaders of South Korea and the United States on strengthening U.S. extended deterrence, Pyongyang's state media said Wednesday.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the protest was held in South Hwanghae province the previous day to "sternly punish" the U.S. and South Korea, or what it called a "gangster" and "puppet" state, respectively.

The KCNA said the participants, full of determination for revenge, burned an effigy depicting the "invaders and provocateurs," apparently referring to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden.

The protesters also slammed Yoon's state visit to Washington as the "most hostile, aggressive and humiliating act of subjugating to the U.S." and a move to stage a "nuclear war" against the North, it added.

Yoon and Biden held a summit in Washington last week and announced the adoption of the Washington Declaration on strengthening U.S. extended deterrence against the North's threats.

Extended deterrence refers to the U.S. commitment to mobilizing all of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its ally. (Yonhap)