North Korea's Day of the Sun rung in with a massive military parade on Saturday, closely watched by Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
It's the 105th anniversary of the birth of his grandfather Kim Il Sung - the founder of the North Korean state, and it comes at a time of high tension - a booming announcement from one of Pyongyang's most senior officials saying "If the U.S. wages reckless provocation against us, we will instantly counter with an annihilating strike."
The huge national celebration is nothing if not a show of force from the North. South Korea says it believes rockets on display at the parade are a new kind of intercontinental ballistic missile.
International fears have been mounting over whether Pyongyang could use the event as a backdrop for its sixth nuclear test at a time when it's been ramping up development of major weapons.
Adding to the hostility against Washington and its allies, a U.S. naval fleet is currently speeding toward the Korean Peninsula, fresh off the back of last week's deadly U.S. strike on a Syrian air base, and the dropping of the so-called Mother of All Bombs in Afghanistan on Thursday.
The escalating tension sparked some typically vicious words from the North Koreans. "We will respond to all-out war with all-out war, and to nuclear war with our own brand of nuclear strike warfare."
