NKorea's Kim Jong Il reviews massive military parade for army anniversary

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il reviewed a massive military parade in Pyongyang featuring dozens of missiles to mark the army's anniversary Wednesday, in a display of might amid deadlocked efforts to rid the country of nuclear weapons. While the North feted its troops, top White House adviser Victor Cha delivered a pointed message Tuesday to North Korean officials in New York, urging them to act on a nuclear disarmament pledge and telling them that U.S. patience was limited.

The North Koreans agreed to convey the message to Pyongyang, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The North failed to shut down its main bomb-making nuclear reactor by an April 14 deadline under an international agreement due to problems in receiving funds frozen in a separate banking dispute. Getting the money has been Pyongyang's main condition for disarmament.

The funds have been freed for withdrawal, but for unknown reasons the North has not yet recovered them.

On Wednesday, Kim waved to the crowd for several minutes during a 90-minute military parade through the capital's central Kim Il Sung Square, Associated Press Television News reported from Pyongyang.

The procession marked the 75th anniversary of the Korean People's Army, which dates its origin to resistance movements against Japan's occupation of the Korean peninsula before its liberation and division after World War II.

After soldiers marched in formation, 48 missiles of four different sizes were driven through the square.

AP Television News footage showed goose-stepping troops and some missiles, apparently shorter-range models, being carried on military trucks and other vehicles.

"Columns of rocket units" marched in the parade, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said, "demonstrating the invincible might of the (army) equipped with modern offensive and defensive means."

The North conducted its first-ever nuclear weapons test in October. However, experts believe it does not have a bomb design advanced enough to be placed on a missile.

Still, the commander of U.S. forces in South Korea warned the North could become a "moderate nuclear power" by 2010 if current disarmament negotiations fail.

U.S. Army Gen. B. B. Bell told lawmakers Tuesday in Washington that the North continues to produce missiles "and may ultimately aim to develop nuclear-armed missiles to threaten regional countries and even the U.S."

Under his "songun," or military-first policy, North Korea's leader has placed top priority on strengthening his armed forces, the backbone of his totalitarian rule over the country's 23 million hunger-stricken people.

In a lengthy editorial marking the holiday, the North's main newspaper called for providing troops with the best of the country's scarce resources.

"We can live without candy, but not without bullets," the Rodong Sinmun wrote.

In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said Wednesday that the financial dispute that has hindered progress on disarmament was nearing a close but did not give a reason for his optimism.

A senior diplomat at North Korea's mission to the UN, Kim Myong Gil, stressed that the money in the financial dispute must be transferred to another bank to satisfy Pyongyang, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Kim's remarks appeared to reflect difficulties the North faces in finding a bank willing to accept its money.

© The Canadian Press, 2007