Amid rising regional tensions, Pyongyang residents have been preparing for North Korea's most important holiday: the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un.
The North has said it has developed and would launch a missile that can strike the mainland US.
State television showed Kim, wearing a black suit and white shirt, stepping out of a limousine and saluting his honour guard before walking down a red carpet.
China also has grown increasingly frustrated with the refusal of Kim Jong Un's regime to heed its admonitions, and in February cut off imports of North Korean coal that provide Pyongyang with a crucial source of foreign currency.
Washington has voiced concerns over Pyongyang's nuclear tests, but the North says such launches are an act as deterrence against a potential invasion by the US or South Korea.
North Korea is prepared to respond to any nuclear attack by the United States in kind, the country's number two official said Saturday.
Choe Ryong Hae - believed to be the second-most powerful official in the country - in his address to the soldiers during the parade, blamed Donald Trump for "creating a war situation" in the Korean Peninsula promising to respond with all out war to United States aggression.
North Korea had warned the United States on Saturday to end its " military hysteria" or face retaliation as a U.S. aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region and the reclusive state marked the 105th birth anniversary of its founding father.
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But a USA military official, who requested anonymity to discuss planning, said the United States doesn't intend to use military force against North Korea in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch. -South Korean military exercises. A carrier strike group led by USS Carl Vinson made its way toward North Korea, in addition to a WC-135 "nuke-sniffer" being deployed to neighboring Japan. The 38 North website, which monitors North Korea, said satellite imagery of the country's Punggye-ri nuclear test site suggests it is "primed and ready" for an explosion.
The possibility of large numbers of seaborne refugees from North Korea, among them possible spies, was also discussed by Japanese ministers.
It was the first time North Korea had shown the missiles, which have a range of over 1,000 km (600 miles), at a military parade.
At the Pentagon, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said Washington was "working with worldwide partners in order to defuse the situation, but the bottom line is, North Korea has got to change its behavior". North Korean Premier Pak Pong Ju said the project "incorporates the latest architectural science and technology, including solar and geothermal technology, and the greening of roofs and walls".
North Korea's military chimed in on Friday saying it would "ruthlessly ravage" the United States if it chose to attack. "It seems longer than the existing KN-08 or KN-14 ICBMs", South Korean military official told Yonhap.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of the East Asian state.
For its part, North Korea's Vice Minister Han Song Ryol told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview earlier Friday that his country will keep building up its nuclear arsenal in "quality and quantity".
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