North Korea stages military parade – South Korea military source

By Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith

SEOUL – North Korea staged a widely anticipated military parade on Monday, a South Korean military source said, marking its army’s founding anniversary with a display expected to include the nuclear-armed country’s latest weapons.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency earlier reported that North Korea was conducting the parade after sundown on Monday, citing unnamed military sources. The event was believed to include some of the North’s newest missiles, including its largest Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which was first test-fired last month, the agency reported.

North Korea’s past three military parades occurred after dark, and state media did not report on the events until the next day. State media had not reported a military parade as of Monday night, though outlets had described a number of other commemorative events.

At least 12 illuminated objects were spotted over central Pyongyang at around 9:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) on Monday, Seoul-based NK News reported, saying that they may have been drones or other aircraft and a possible indicator of a military parade or practice.

Pyongyang’s main Kim Il Sung Square was also illuminated and crowds of people were moving toward the area, the website reported.