N. Korea displays new type of ballistic missile at military parade, S. Korea says

South Korea's military said it believed missiles displayed in a North Korean military parade included new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).

The North's leader, Kim Jong-un, attended the parade in the capital, Pyongyang, as a series of missiles, multiple launch rocket systems and rockets were on display, amid questions about U.S. plans for the country and concerns about a possible sixth nuclear test.

Earlier Saturday, North Korea warned the United States to end its"military hysteria" or face retaliation as a U.S. aircraft carrier group steamed towardthe region and the reclusive statemarked the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founder and the current leader's grandfather, Kim Il-sung.

Our toughest counteraction against the U.S. and its vassalforces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allowthe aggressors to survive.- KoreanPeople's Armyspokesperson

Concern has grown since the U.S. Navy fired 59 Tomahawkmissiles at a Syrian airfield last week in response to a deadly gas attack. That raised questions about U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for North Korea, which has conducted missile andnuclear tests in defiance of UNand unilateral sanctions.

The North's warning, carried by its state-runKCNA news agency, came as leader Kim Jong-un arrived at Pyongyang's main Kim Il-sungSquare, named after his grandfather, for a military parademarking the "Day of the Sun."

Goose-stepping soldiers and marching bands filled thesquare in the hazy spring sunshine as tanks, multiple launch rocket systems and other weapons waited to parade.

CBC's Saa Petricic was in Pyongyang, travelling with a government representative, as he watched the choreographed display of military might.

"You can feel the ground shake with every one of these platoons that go by. If you look to the other side (of the square), you can see rows and rows of senior officers who are clapping in unison," he said.

"This is meant to show a level of defiance form North Korea."

A series of what appeared to be KN-08 missiles were among the weapons rolled out on trucks. Analysts say the missiles could one day be capable of hitting targets as far as the continental United States, although North Korea has yet to flight test them.

The parade also included large rockets covered by canisters in two different types of transporter erector launcher trucks, or TELs, which can carry, move into launch position and fire missiles. An official from South Korea's Defense Ministry couldn't immediately confirm whether any of the rockets represented a new type of ICBM.

Kim Dong-yub, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the canisters and trucks suggested that the North was developing technology to "cold launch" ICBMs, ejecting them from the canisters before they ignite. This would allow North Korea to launch its missiles without damaging its limited number of ICBM-capable launcher trucks and also make the missiles harder to detect after they're fired, he said. Cold launches would also allow the missiles to be fired from silos.

Kim, the analyst, said it's likely that North Korea is also developing solid-fuel ICBMs, and that some of the rockets inside the canisters on Saturday might have been prototypes.

North Korea, still technically at war with the South aftertheir 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce but not a treaty, has onoccasion conducted missile or nuclear tests to coincide with bigpolitical events and often threatens the United States, SouthKorea and Japan.

"All the brigandish provocative moves of the U.S. in thepolitical, economic and military fields pursuant to its hostile policy toward the DPRK[Democratic People's Republic of Korea] will thoroughly be foiled through thetoughest counteraction of the army and people of the DPRK," KCNAsaid, citing a spokesperson for the General Staff of the KoreanPeople's Army.

"Our toughest counteraction against the U.S. and its vassalforces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allowthe aggressors to survive."

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'Open threat'

The state news agency said the Trump administration's"serious military hysteria" had reached a "dangerous phase whichcan no longer be overlooked."

The United States has warned that a policy of "strategic patience" with North Korea is over. U.S. Vice-President MikePence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-daytrip to Asia.

China, North Korea's sole major ally and neighbour whichnevertheless opposes its weapons program, on Friday againcalled for talks to defuse the crisis.

"We call on all parties to refrain from provoking andthreatening each other, whether in words or actions, and not letthe situation get to an irreversible and unmanageable stage,"Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing.

North Korea on Friday denounced the United States forbringing "huge nuclear strategic assets" to the region as the USS Carl Vinson strike group with a flagship nuclear-poweredaircraft carrier steamed closer, and said it stood ready tostrike back.

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"The Trump administration, which made a surprise guidedcruise-missile strike on Syria on April 6, has entered the pathof open threat and blackmail," KCNA quoted the military assaying in a statement.

"The army and people of the DPRK will as ever courageously counter those who encroach upon the dignity and sovereignty ofthe DPRK and will always mercilessly ravage all provocativeoptions of the U.S. with Korean-style toughest counteraction."