North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has hosted a major military parade, and a new intercontinental ballistic missile was displayed at the event in Pyongyang, in the presence of foreign dignitaries, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, quoted by Reuters and BTA.
The parade, which began late last night, was held to mark the 80th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and was a continuation of the solemn celebration of the anniversary that began on Thursday.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, a delegation from Russia led by former President Dmitry Medvedev, and Vietnamese Communist Party chief Tho Lam were among the foreign dignitaries who came to Pyongyang for anniversary.
At the military parade, North Korea, a nuclear-armed state, displayed its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-20, described by the KCNA as the country's "most powerful strategic weapons system."
The Hwasong series of ICBMs has given North Korea the ability to strike anywhere in the continental United States, but doubts remain about whether the missile's guidance systems are sophisticated enough to reach its target and whether its warhead is capable of surviving re-entry into the atmosphere, Reuters notes.
At the parade, Kim gave a speech in which he extended a "warm welcome" to to North Korean soldiers participating in missions abroad, and added that military heroism is not only manifested in the defense of North Korean soil, but also at the "frontlines of socialist construction," the KCNA noted.
Yesterday, Kim held talks with Medvedev, who said that the sacrifice of North Korean soldiers who fought for Russia in the Kursk region was proof of the trusting relationship between the two countries.
The North Korean leader told his Russian guest that he hoped that the strengthening of ties with Moscow would continue and that both countries would closely cooperate to achieve common goals, the KCNA added.