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By Jack Kim and Joyce Lee
SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea appears to have staged a military parade in its capital Pyongyang to mark the 80th anniversary of the creation of its ruling Workers' Party, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported on Friday.
Yonhap attributed its report of the widely expected nighttime parade to an unnamed informed source. A report on China's official news agency Xinhua said visiting Chinese Premier Li Qiang attended anniversary celebrations in Pyongyang on Thursday and Friday and watched "grand mass gymnastics, artistic performances and military parades."
The reports did not elaborate.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has used such parades, usually coinciding with key anniversaries and recently staged at night, as a glitzy showcase of growing military power, rolling out progressively advanced ballistic missiles and military hardware.
'BULWARK OF INDEPENDENCE' AGAINST WEST
This week's parade is being watched by officials and analysts for a possible display of the latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) powered by solid fuel with a range that can hit the U.S. mainland.
A South Korean military official said earlier that a military parade was likely on Friday evening, citing indications of ongoing rehearsals involving troops, missiles and military equipment.
At a ceremony on Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, flanked by leaders and officials of partner countries including China and Russia, declared that his country's global standing was rising by the day.
Kim called North Korea a "faithful member of socialist forces" and "a bulwark for independence" against the threat of the West's global hegemony, state news agency KCNA reported on Friday.
On the centre podium of the packed May Day stadium on Thursday, Kim was joined by China's Li Qiang, Vietnamese leader To Lam and Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, with other foreign delegations and diplomats also in attendance.
Kim honoured the legacy of the party that he said had made "not a single mistake or error" in its 80-year history, leading the country on a path of ascent riding on the wisdom and strength of the people, KCNA reported.
"Today, we stand before the world as a mighty people with no obstacles we cannot overcome and no great achievement we cannot accomplish," he was quoted as saying.
BUILDING TIES WITH VIETNAM
The ceremonies in Pyongyang follow Kim's visit last month to Beijing for China's World War Two anniversary, which featured a massive military parade.
KCNA said earlier that Kim received Vietnam's Communist Party chief To Lam, who is leading a large government delegation, with an honour-guard welcome and held talks on advancing cooperation to meet global challenges.
Kim also held talks with China's Li, in which they said the visit marked a "new chapter" in advancing ties and pledged to expand strategic dialogue and high-level exchanges, KCNA said.
Kim also met Medvedev, who expressed gratitude for North Korea's support for Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, Russian state-run news agencies reported on Friday.
Khang Vu, a visiting scholar on East Asian politics at Boston College, said Vietnam and North Korea see each other as significant potential economic partners.
While international sanctions against Pyongyang have limited cooperation, Lam's large entourage shows Hanoi wants to add a lot more substance to enduring Cold War connections, he said.
"Vietnam can also be useful for North Korea to communicate with the West when Russia is being isolated while China has raised much skepticism," he said.
(Reporting by Jack Kim, Josh Smith, Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Chris Reese, Jamie Freed, Aidan Lewis)
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