N. Korea To Stage Military Parade for National Day
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea is preparing to stage a military parade today to mark the communist state’s 60th anniversary, an official said. The planned show of might comes after South Korea said the North has begun restoring its nuclear facilities and amid concerns over the health of North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Il, who usually attends military parades. “We know that the North has been preparing hard for tomorrow’s event despite various internal difficulties,” a spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry, Won Tae-jae, told reporters. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported yesterday that the parade in Pyongyang would be North Korea’s largest-ever in terms of number of troops displayed, quoting an unidentified government official.