North Korea Children Stage Mock Military Parade
Youths wear uniforms, ride toy cars made to look like military vehicles and compete at building a mock rocket.
10:51am Saturday 01 June 2013
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uNwVLxXgWE4?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe>
North Korean youngsters dressed in miniature replicas of military uniforms have celebrated Children's Day with a parade featuring toy cars decorated to look like tanks and rocket launchers.
About 3,000 children took part in games, dances and a military parade in the country's capital, Pyongyang.
Groups of children took part in traditional Korean games, part performance and part competition.
A little girl fires an arrow at a target made to look like a US soldier
One game was a relay race to build models of North Korea's rocket, which launched a satellite into orbit last year.
"I'm very happy because I got a prize for coming first," said kindergarten pupil Ri Jin Hui.
Senior North Korean officials watched the event, including Choe Thae Bok, secretary of the ruling Workers' Party, and Yang Hyong Sop, deputy parliament chief and a politburo member.
A mock missile launcher featured a cartoon duck on one side
The event was held at the Mangyongdae amusement park, which was revamped last year after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited it and criticised its dilapidated state.
Tensions in the Korean peninsula have subsided in the past month after being high for several weeks following tougher UN sanctions against Pyongyang over its third nuclear test.
North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-Un
The North had threatened nuclear strikes on Seoul and Washington because of annual US-South Korean military drills and the UN sanctions.
North Korea continues the tradition of marking Children's Day on June 1 as many Socialist countries used to.
The UN World Food Programme has provided North Korea with aid for over a decade to feed malnourished children, although a lack of nutrients and stunted growth remain a serious problem for children in the country.
