▲ This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 9, 2023, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attending a nighttime parade in Pyongyang the previous day to mark the 75th founding anniversary of its armed forces. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
▲ This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 9, 2023, shows the North staging a military parade at Kim Il Sung Square the previous day to mark the 75th founding anniversary of its armed forces. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) N Korea-military parade

(LEAD) ▲N. Korean leader attends military parade; ICBMs on display ▲

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with more details)

SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- ▲North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has attended a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of its armed forces, with the country displaying intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) having "maximum" nuclear attack capability, according to state media Thursday.▲

Flanked by top military and party officials, Kim took to the reviewing stand to watch the nighttime military parade held in Kim Il Sung Square on Wednesday to mark the Korean People's Army (KPA) anniversary, ▲according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Clad in a long black coat and wearing a felt hat, Kim smiled and waved to the crowd, photos released by the KCNA showed. His outfit was reminiscent of those of the country's late founder, Kim Il-sung.

▲But the North's leader did not deliver a widely-anticipated speech during the parade.

Kim's apparent second child, Ju-ae, and his wife Ri Sol-ju were also spotted attending the event, days after the "respected" daughter visited troops with his father earlier this week.▲

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ICBMs and other weapons rolled through the square, with the North claiming ICBMs showed off the nation's "maximum" nuclear attack capability.

The North also presented "tactical nuclear units" in a demonstration of its "war deterrence and counterstrike capabilities."▲

According to satellite images from the U.S.-based space technology firm Maxar Technologies, the North appears to have paraded a range of new ballistic missiles, including its Hwasong-17 ICBMs on a mobile launcher.

Though many of the missiles remain unidentified, some observers raised the possibility that the list of the missiles on display might include a solid-propellant one that the North has recently been working on.

The North is expected to air recorded footage of the military parade later in the day.

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The parade came as the secretive regime has advanced its weapons program in defiance of multiple U.N. sanctions on the North.

At a party meeting in late last year, Kim Jong-un called for an "exponential" increase in its nuclear arsenal, raising the need to mass-produce tactical nuclear weapons apparently targeting the South and develop a new ICBM.▲

Since Kim took power following his father's death in late 2011, his regime has staged 13 military parades, including the latest one.

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