North Korea marks Korean War ‘victory’ with parade in Pyongyang

North Korea has commemorated the anniversary of the Korean War armistace with a huge military parade attended by the country's 30-year-old leader Kim Jong Un.

Kim, wearing a black Mao suit, viewed the carefully choreographed stream of goose-stepping soldiers and military hardware parading through the capital Pyongyang.

He arrived at the podium in Kim Il Sung Square on a red carpet with a military band playing and flanked by military and ruling party leaders, the BBC wrote.

North Korea considers the 1953 suspension of open hostilities in the Korean War as a "victory."

Despite the passage of time, there are few signs of improvement in North Korea's relations with the United States, South Korea or most of the other 15 countries who sent troops to oppose the North's incursion over the 38th Parallel on June 25, 1950.

The North has been seeking direct talks with the US, however provocations such as a rocket launch and a nuclear-weapon test – as well as Pyongyang's refusal to renounce its nuclear ambitions, make that an unlikely prospect.

There was speculation as to whether Kim would make speak during the parade, the North's first in more than a year, accoridng to the Washington Post.

That he did not fueled speculation outside the country that he may have opted to avoid provoking the US.

However, several foreign journalists were granted rare visas to attend the parade.

One photograph from the aftermath of the midday parade, shared on Twitter, showed exhausted soldiers either sitting or holding onto one another to stay upright.

Ivan Watson, a CNN correspondent visiting Pyongyang, wrote on Twitter:

After the parade, soldiers collapsed from heat exhaustion. It was scorching hot for hours under the sun in Pyongyang. pic.twitter.com/rd95vEHLcf — Ivan Watson (@IvanCNN) July 27, 2013