North Korea staged a giant celebration for the 80th anniversary of its ruling Workers' Party on Thursday night, with foreign dignitaries from China, Vietnam, and Russia attending, state television showed.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a speech, which was mostly directed at a domestic audience and focused on the history of the party.

"As the vicious schemes for isolating and stifling the country economically persisted from one century into the next, it had to cope with these schemes proactively and aggressively while pushing forward with the gigantic projects for socialist construction," Kim said.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Vietnam Party General Secretary To Lam, and Russian Deputy Security Secretary Dmitry Medvedev were in attendance, watching fireworks, light shows, performances from dancers and singers and martial artists jumping through hoops of fire.

North Korea did not allow international media to enter the country for this event and did not broadcast it until the day after it happened.