Traditional dancers perform during a commemorative ceremony of the 60th anniversary of Ceasefire Agreement and U.N. forces' Participation in the Korean War, at the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul July 27, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Lee Jae-Won
By Se Young Lee and Maxim Duncan
PYONGYANG | Sat Jul 27, 2013 12:09am EDT
PYONGYANG (Reuters) - North Korea celebrated the 68th anniversary of the Korean War truce on Saturday with a massive military parade trumpeting the revolutionary genius of three generations of leaders that gave it "Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War".
Leader Kim Jong-un was joined by Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao on the podium overlooking Pyongyang's main Kim Il Sung square to inspect a massive throng of soldiers in goosestep and a display of weapons including its mid-range missiles.
Kim clad in black exchanged words with Li through an interpreter but did not make public remarks at the parade, which appeared to be one of the largest ever put on by the North.
Choe Ryong-hae, Kim's main military aide and the chief political operative of the North's 1.2-million-strong army, said the reclusive state sees peace as a top national priority and its military was aimed at safeguarding North Korea from invasion.
"Reality shows if peace is sought, there must be preparations for war," Choe said in a speech. "For us with our utmost task of building an economy and improving the lives of the people, a peaceful environment is greater than ever."
The remarks were moderate in tone without the bellicose rhetoric that routinely fills the North's public commentary, and Choe did not mention the country's nuclear arms program or name the United States as its chief enemy.
Kim and Li, along with the North's top military officials and the youthful leader's uncle Jang Song-thaek, seen as North Korea's second most powerful man, watched as a missile arsenal paraded past, including the newly developed mid-range Musudan.
Fighter jets and large military helicopters flew over the square packed with tens of thousands of soldiers, North Korean and foreign veterans of the Korean War and diplomats.
On Thursday, Kim met Li in what was the highest-level talks between the two countries after their ties seemed to fray following Pyongyang's missile and nuclear tests in the past year, that led to tougher U.N. sanctions backed by Beijing.
Li told Kim that Beijing will push for talks on removing nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula, according to China's Foreign Ministry.
China's official Xinhua news agency, in a commentary on Saturday, said the time was right to for all sides to seek a permanent end to the state of hostilities on the peninsula, but added North Korea had to live up to its responsibilities.
"For Pyongyang's part, its security concerns are understandable and should be addressed properly, but violating U.N. Security Council resolutions is not helpful. It has to keep its end of the bargain," Xinhua said.
In the South Korean capital Seoul, veterans of some of the 16 countries that fought under the United Nations command during the Korean War marked the truce at a more intimate event.
"For the past sixty years, an uncertain peace that can be broken at any moment has been maintained," South Korean President Park Geun-hye said. "The war has been suspended and we are in the midst of the longest truce."
In 1950 the United States rallied the United Nations to send troops to counter the North's invasion of the South, which was backed by Soviet forces. The allies nearly destroyed Kim Il-sung's army when China intervened.
On July 27, 1953, the commanders of North Korea, China and the United States signed the armistice, setting up a 240 km (150 mile) border across the peninsula that is the world's most heavily guarded frontier.
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Michael Perry)
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