North Korea puts on mother of all spectacles with 100,000 people to celebrate 'victory' in Korean War
As propaganda goes, it's not exactly the most subtle method. More than 100,000 gymnasts and performers have been enlisted for a bombastic display of North Korean nationalism in the world's largest stadium.
The secretive state's annual mass games have begun, with the heavily-choreographed shows telling the story of the nation and paying homage to its leader Kim Jong-un and his father and grandfather, who ruled before him.
The festival, named Arirang after a popular folk song, takes place in the 150,000-capacity May Day stadium in the capital Pyongyang and is in its 11th year.
This year, the performance has been given a war theme ahead of the 60th anniversary of the truce which brought the Korean War between the North and its neighbours in the South to a halt.
North Korea claimed to have won the war of the peninsula, which it calls the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War, and celebrates Victory Day on July 27 each year.
Dancers and gymnasts perform synchronised moves to the sound of singers and in front of a backdrop of 20,000 people holding flipbooks of coloured card.
The card creates mosaics celebrating Kim Jong-un, who has ruled since the end of 2011, his father Kim Jong-il and the country's founder Kim Il-sung.
The performances also represent key moments in the history of the nation.
Children as young as five take part in the festivals, which run until September.
The rigorous selection process takes up to four months and there are always thousands of performers on standby in case someone fails to make the grade.
The celebrations are a rare glimpse into North Korean life, with access carefully controlled by the state.
Nick Bonner, of Koryo Tours, told the International Business Times that he expected to take 160 independent tourists from outside of North Korea to see the games as well as running group trips.
'Over 100,000 performers in the biggest socialist realism choreographed spectacular makes Broadway shows look like amateur dramatics,' he said,
The spectacle is sure to have cost a lot of money at a time when two thirds of the country's 24million population suffer from chronic food insecurity, according to the Assessment Capacities Project.
