North Korea’s Kim attends parade honoring grandfather

By KIM TONG-HYUNG
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has attended a massive civilian parade in the capital Pyongyang to celebrate a milestone birth anniversary of his state-founding grandfather. State TV showed thousands marching in a choreographed display of loyalty to the Kim family. There were no reports of Kim making a speech during Friday’s event, which also did not showcase military hardware. Commercial satellite images in recent weeks have indicated preparations for a large military parade that could take place on the April 25 anniversary of North Korea’s army and display the most advanced weapons in Kim’s nuclear arsenal, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles. There’s also expectation that Pyongyang will escalate its weapons tests in the coming weeks or months while diplomacy is stalled.