South Korea marked its army’s 65th anniversary by holding its largest military parade to date, displaying long-range missiles described as a deterrent to the threat posed by North Korea.
In the largest show of force in decades, the ballistic missiles were paraded at Tuesday’s event in Seoul as the South’s president, Park Geun-hye, warned of the “very grave” threat posed by the North.
“We must build a strong anti-North deterrence until the day the North drops its nuclear arms and makes the right choice for its people and for peace on the Korean peninsula,” said Park.
About 11,000 troops, 190 weapons systems and other equipment and 120 aircraft were featured in the ceremony.
The missiles, the Hyeonmu-2 with a range of 300km and Hyeonmu-3 with a range of more than 1,000km, were described by the government as having “surgical accuracy”.