Pyongyang puts on a spectacular relay show

PYONGYANG: The Olympic torch made its first-ever visit to the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) yesterday, with hundreds of thousands people in traditional Korean dresses dancing and beating drums, and little girls waving flowers and Chinese and DPRK flags along the 20-km route.

The relay began from the obelisk of the Juche Tower, which commemorates the national ideology of "self-reliance" created by the country's late founding leader Kim Il-sung.

At the start of the run, Kim Yong-nam, president of the Supreme People's Assembly, the top legislature of the DPRK, handed the torch to the first runner, Park Tu-ik.