North Korea celebrated its 55th anniversary as a communist state on Tuesday with patriotic songs, nationalist rhetoric and a troops-only military parade bereft of military hardware, easing tensions over its threats to conduct a nuclear test.
Belying South Korean news reports of a massive parade, only about 10 000 troops and civilians marched through the capital Pyongyang, said a Western observer based in North Korea.
No arms and armaments were on display during the two-hour parade, said the observer, speaking on condition he was not identified further.
”There were no missiles, tanks or other military hardware. It was all men, women and bands. Apparently there has been no hardware [in parades] for several years,” he said.
South Korean newspapers had reported in recent days that up to 20 000 troops would take part in the parade, which would feature some of North Korea’s much-vaunted missile systems, including a new long-range ballistic missile.
Earlier on Tuesday, North Korea’s television broadcast patriotic songs and documentaries glorifying the country’s leader, Kim Jong Il, and his father, Kim Il Sung, the country’s former president who died in 1994.
The crisis over North Korea’s suspected nuclear weapons programme erupted nearly one year ago when Washington said Pyongyang had admitted running a secret nuclear programme in violation of international agreements. The two sides held talks to resolve the crisis last month in Beijing along with South Korea, Japan, China and Russia.
North Korea has described the talks as useless, but the position is being seen as a bluster to improve its negotiating position in the next round of talks.
Still, Tuesday’s military parade was being closely watched for signs of belligerence after the North Korean delegate at the six-nation talks in Beijing, Kim Yong Il, warned after the meeting that his country could test a nuclear weapon and even prove that it had the means to deliver nuclear bombs.
Washington had expressed fears that the test could happen on Tuesday or the regime could formally declare itself a nuclear power. North Korea’s covert program is believed to have produced at least one nuclear bomb. — Sapa-AP