DPRK/North Korea Celebration/CNN

Cosmetic change, but no real reform, in North Korea

By Tom Cohen, CNN

July 27, 2013 -- Updated 0305 GMT (1105 HKT)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, applauds before the Arirang Festival at the 150,000-seat Rungrado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang on Friday, July 26. The festival features thousands of performers putting on acrobatic dances set to music. This year's festival is themed on the "victory" of the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War.

The 90-minute performances will be repeated throughout the festival, which runs until September 9.

Adding to the showmanship of the performances is a backdrop created by thousands of people holding up pages from a booklet; the backdrop changes as the participants turn the pages in sequence.

The finale of the performance features fireworks and an intricate display on the field as well as by those creating the backdrop.

The festival draws large crowds throughout its run.

Dancers perform during the festival on July 26.

Dancers with flower props create a sea of color and movement on July 26.

A woman sits next to models of military weapons at a festival for the "Kimilsungia" and "Kimjongilia" flowers, named after the country's late leaders, on Wednesday, July 24, in Pyongyang, North Korea. The exhibition was held to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the armistice agreement that ended the fighting on July 27, 1953.

The North Korean military band leads an international peace march at the Three Charters for National Reunification Memorial Tower in Pyongyang on July 24. This was the first war in which the United Nations played a role and the first to battle with jet aircraft.

A mosaic of the late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il is on display at an exhibition in Pyongyang on July 24.

Veterans of the Korean War wave at the crowd as they leave by bus after arriving at the Pyongyang railway station Tuesday, July 23.

A North Korean soldier explains the history of the armistice agreement between North and South Korea at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone on Monday, July 22. The demilitarized zone separates the two Koreas and remains one of the most tense borders in the world.

Women jump through hula hoops during the opening night of the annual Arirang Festival, or "mass games," at Pyongyang's May Day Stadium on Monday, July 22.

North Korean dancers perform during the Arirang Festival in Pyongyang on July 22. This year's performance was timed to debut for the 60th anniversary on July 27 and features new scenes focusing on leader Kim Jong Un's directives.

At dusk, the setting sunlight is reflected on the Taedong River in Pyongyang on Sunday, July 21.

Children skate around the Kim Il Sung Square on July 21 in downtown Pyongyang.

People dine in a restaurant at the Koryo hotel on July 21 in downtown Pyongyang.

People pose for photos near a display model of an octopus as they visit a dolphin show facility at an amusement park in Pyongyang on Sunday, June 23.

Men and women dance in front of the Monument to the Party Founding in Pyongyang on Wednesday, June 19. The performance celebrates the day the late North Korean leader Kim Jung Il began his work at the central committee of the communist nation's ruling Workers' Party in 1964.

A man reads a newspaper on a public display at Puhung subway station in Pyongyang on Tuesday, June 18. Some stations are more elaborate than others and foreign visitors are usually only allowed to take one stop, from Puhung station to Yonggwang.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un uses a pair of binoculars to look south from the Jangjae Islet Defense Detachment near South Korea's Taeyonphyong Island on Thursday, March 7. Kim is the youngest son of Kim Jong Il and came into power after his fathers death in 2011.

A nurse comforts a baby at a nursery inside Pyongyang Maternity Hospital in Pyongyang on Wednesday, February 20.

North Korean traffic officers gather in front of bronze statues of the late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il to pay their respects in Pyongyang on Saturday, February 16. North Koreans turned out to commemorate what would have been the 71st birthday of Kim, who died on December 17, 2011.

A national meeting marks the anniversary of the birth of the late leader Kim Jong II at Pyongyang Indoor Stadium on Saturday, February 16.

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Reclusive North Korea opens a little for the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice
• An Asia expert calls it "an early summer charm offensive"
• North Korea's young leader needs aid due to food shortages before the harvest
• Even benefactor China is fed up with North Korean tactics that increase regional tension

Washington (CNN) -- Four months ago, North Korea threatened to scrap the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War and resume hostilities against the United States and South Korea in response to tougher U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang after its latest nuclear test.

This week, the famously reclusive dictatorship welcomed a large Western media contingent, including CNN journalists, to cover the 60th anniversary of the armistice.

Such a shift in public posturing is common for North Korea, which is known for bellicose threats followed by diplomatic overtures intended to wring desperately needed aid and concessions from the outside world.

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"This is just a recurring pattern. Nothing special," said Kongdan "Katy" Oh, a Brookings Institution senior fellow who specializes in East Asia.

The outward appearance of possible change in North Korea under young leader Kim Jong Un after decades of secretive dictatorship comes amid strained relations with its powerful neighbor and benefactor, China.

It followed followed Xi Jinping's ascendancy to power in China, which essentially props up North Korea through its economic ties and aid.

Since Xi became head of the ruling Communist Party last November, Beijing has signaled growing impatience with Pyongyang's tactics.

In March, less than a week before Xi also became president, China joined the rest of the U.N. Security Council in backing tougher sanctions against North Korea in response to Pyongyang's nuclear test in February.

Pondering Pyongyang: Beijing's problem child

The sanctions prompted the war threats by North Korea and test-firing of missiles, raising tension on the Korean peninsula.

Oh explained that China was angry with Kim for a December satellite launch in violation of U.N. resolutions that raised regional tensions during Xi's transition to power. The February nuclear test further exacerbated China's anger, she said.

Before Xi headed to the United States for a trip that included a June meeting with President Barack Obama, North Korea sent an envoy to China who got treated "like cold rice," according to Oh.

Kurt Campbell, who recently served as U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told CNN before the Xi-Obama meeting that the Chinese "have just about had it with North Korea.

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"They recognize that the steps that they have taken -- nuclear provocations -- are creating the context for more military activities on the part of the United States and other countries that ultimately are not in China's best strategic interests," Campbell said then.

However, Oh dismissed any chance that China would use its leverage to try to force reforms in North Korea, saying the history and structure of the military backed dictatorship made it impossible for Kim to undo the legacy of this father and grandfather.

Opinion: What Obama should tell China's Xi about North Korea

The satellite launch in December and nuclear test in February were Kim's way of establishing his leadership with the military, on which his power depends, Oh explained. She likened North Korea to an impoverished African dictatorship that happened to have nuclear weapons.

Now, with chronic food shortages exacerbated in the months before the harvest, Kim is putting on what Oh called "an early summer charm offensive" to ensure his regime gets all the aid and economic benefit available from China and others.

That means allowing in the Western media for the armistice commemoration events and reportedly signaling support for resuming long-suspended six-party talks on curtailing North Korea's nuclear program.

In addition, recent visits from Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and former U.S. basketball star Dennis Rodman have boosted North Korea's popularity as a travel destination.

Tour operators say a record number of foreigners were coming to this year's Arirang Festival, a seven-week celebration of gymnastics and music that began Monday at Pyongyang's May Day Stadium.

To Oh, it amounts to cosmetic changes rather than anything close to real reform.

On Friday, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported that Kim supported China's call for resuming the six-party talks with the United States, South Korea and others.

According to Xinhua, Kim's backing for more six-party talks came after he met with Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao, the highest-level Chinese official to visit North Korea since Kim took power in 2011 after the death of his father, longtime dictator Kim Jong Il.

However, a report on Li's visit by the North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency made no mention of his call for resuming the nuclear talks or Kim's supporting it.