N. Korea holds military parade for 70th anniversary of ruling party (PHOTOS)
The major military parade, the first since July 2013, featuring a stream of goose-stepping soldiers, columns of tanks and a range of armaments, took place in Kim Il Sung Square in the heart of Pyongyang. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived at the parade ground in central Pyongyang and reviewed the parade. It is being closely watched if he will deliver a rare public speech on the occasion. Outside observers also pay attention to whether North Korea will display new types of military hardware, as well as whether it will repair relations with China that were strained over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs. Scores of signs celebrating the ruling party's 70th birthday, following the end of Japan's colonial rule of Korea from 1910 to 1945, that have been set up all over the capital are evidence that it is North Korea's biggest event this year. North Korea's estimated 1 million-strong military and ordinary citizens, young and old, spent months to prepare for their well-known choreographed actions, while high-rise apartments dedicated for scientists, a power station and other numerous facilities have been built at a fast clip to coincide with this important commemoration. The spectacle comes amid speculation that North Korea may again conduct a banned test of ballistic missile technology in the not-so-distant future. In the weeks leading up to the anniversary, North Korean officials have repeatedly suggested that they are prepared to fire a long-range rocket, seen by other countries as a pretext for testing ballistic missile technology that is in violation of U.N. resolutions. Not many countries, even those that have close diplomatic ties with North Korea, decided to send senior officials to the parade. But China, North Korea's traditional ally, was represented by Liu Yunshan, the Communist Party's fifth-ranked leader, who stood next to Kim on a balcony overlooking the parade ground. Liu became China's most senior official to visit North Korea since Kim inherited power following the death of his father in December 2011. His four-day visit through Monday at the invitation of the Workers' Party could have pared the odds of Kim's regime going ahead with a launch of a long-range rocket to put a "satellite" into space in the coming weeks. On Friday, he held talks with Kim. It remains to be seen if China will succeed in wielding its strong influence on North Korea to stop it from taking any more provocative actions, which includes a fourth nuclear test. South Korean and other countries' intelligence officials have detected no signs of North Korea preparing for such tests in the next few days. Still, North Korea has said it has the legitimate right, just as with other
