North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made an appearance at an immense military parade celebrating the birthday of his lateNorth Korean state television showed Kim saluting his honour guard before walking down a red carpet grandfather and North Korea founder Kim Il-sung.
State television showed Kim, wearing a black suit and white shirt, stepping out of a black limousine and saluting his honour guard before walking down a red carpet on Saturday.
He then walked up to a podium and clapped with senior government officials to address the thousands of soldiers and a massive crowd taking part in the parade in the capital, Pyongyang.
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A submarine-launched ballistic missile was displayed at the parade for the first time.
South Korean analysts had predicted that the North would use the parade to showcase its strategic weapons, such as prototype intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Al Jazeera’s Craig Leeson, reporting from Seoul, in the South, said Kim Il-sung’s birthday, also known as the Day of the Sun, is a day for celebration in North Korea, but also a day for analysts to observe the military parade.
“What we’ve seen already is that it’s a very large parade. We had expected it would possibly be the largest that they’ve held,” our correspondent said.
He said analysts are noting who is standing beside Kim Jong-un – on his right, the country’s second-highest ranking official, who heads the military, and on his left, the country’s premier.
“What analysts believe is that this is sending a message that Kim Jong-un maintains his dual track policy,” Leeson said.
“That is the military deterrent and developing that military deterrent. And on his left, the economic policy, bringing North Korea into the modern world. That includes the business world, engaging China, its biggest trading partner, and maintaining its strenght on the peninsula.”
‘Military hysteria’
In his annual New Year’s address, Kim said that the country’s preparations for an inter-continental ballistic missile launch have “reached the final stage”. Analysts say commercial satellite images from recent weeks indicate increased activity around North Korea’s nuclear test site.
READ MORE: Mounting tensions – The view from Seoul
North Korea warned the United States to end its “military hysteria” earlier on Saturday or face retaliation as a US aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region.
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“All the brigandish provocative moves of the US in the political, economic and military fields pursuant to its hostile policy toward the DPRK will thoroughly be foiled through the toughest counteraction of the army and people of the DPRK,” North Korea’s KCNA news agency said, citing a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army.
DPRK stands for the official name of North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“Our toughest counteraction against the US and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive.”
It said the Trump administration’s “serious military hysteria” has reached a “dangerous phase which can no longer be overlooked”.
The US has warned that a policy of “strategic patience” with North Korea is over.
OPINION: What’s on Kim Jong-un’s mind?
US Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia.
China, North Korea’s sole major ally and neighbour, which nevertheless opposes its weapons programme, on Friday again called for talks to defuse the crisis.
“We call on all parties to refrain from provoking and threatening each other, whether in words or actions, and not let the situation get to an irreversible and unmanageable stage,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing.
North Korea, still technically at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce but not a treaty, has on occasion conducted missile or nuclear tests to coincide with big political events and often threatens the United States, South Korea and Japan.
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