Pyongyang, Feb. 8 (TNS): North Korea has held a military parade attended by leader Kim Jong-un, a day before the opening of the Winter Olympics in the South.
The North often boasts of its parades but reports of this surfaced afterwards with TV airing delayed footage.
This event is usually held in April and moving it had been seen as a setback to the warming of ties over the Olympics.
But the South announced on Thursday its president would meet the North’s Olympics delegation on Saturday.
Moon Jae-in will have lunch with the 22-strong team, which will include the North’s ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam, and Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong-un.
Early on Thursday state TV began showing patriotic films in what appeared to be a prelude to a live broadcast.
But delayed and unscheduled footage of the event only appeared on TV in the North at 17:30 local time.
The parade was reportedly smaller than recent years and the footage showed Kim Jong-un inspecting troops, alongside his wife Ri Sol-ju. There was the traditional goose-steeping and a show of heavy weapons.
The annual parade, which this year marks the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People’s Army, is normally held in April and this was the first time in 40 years it had been given a February date.
Such parades are often given a much higher profile. In 2017, North Korea aired a live broadcast of its military parade on state television. Foreign journalists were invited to cover the event.
South Korean government officials said last month that some 13,000 troops and 200 pieces of equipment had been spotted near an airport in Pyongyang in what appeared to be a rehearsal for the parade.
