North Korean soldiers carry flags and a photo of late leader Kim Il Sung as they march across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade on Saturday, April 15, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP/PTI Photo)
Pyongyang, North Korea: North Korea paraded its intercontinental ballistic missiles Saturday in a massive military display in central Pyongyang, with ruler Kim Jong Un looking on with delight as his nation flaunted its increasingly sophisticated military hardware amid rising tensions across the region.
Kim did not speak during the annual parade, which celebrates the 1912 birthday of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founding ruler, but one of his top officials warned that North Korea would stand up to any threat posed by the United States.
Choe Ryong Hae said President Donald Trump was guilty of "creating a war situation" on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching U.S. forces to the region.
"We will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack," said Choe, considered by outside analysts to be North Korea's No. 2 official.
The parade, the annual highlight of North Korea's most important holiday, came amid growing international worries that North Korea may be preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a major missile launch, such as its first flight test of an ICBM capable of reaching U.S. shores.
But if the parade signaled a readiness for war, North Korea has long insisted that its goal is peace — and its own survival — with its growing arsenal a way to ensure that the government in Pyongyang is not easily overthrown.