A North Korean army General has said that another war on the Korean peninsula would leave no Americans left to sign a surrender document, in a grandstanding speech that marked the 62nd anniversary of the armistice of the Korean War.
North Korean citizens flocked to mass patriotic gatherings and dances in honour of the armistice day, in honour of the agreement, which was signed on 27 July 1953.
The armistice is hailed every year as a North Korean victory over America, which fought alongside South Korea and UN forces against North Korean forces, which were backed by China and the USSR.
Although the agreement ended the war, it was a truce, not a peace treaty. As a result, North Korea and South Korea are still technically at war.
North Koreans watch a firework display put on to celebrate the armistice day
In an address, the text of which was broadcast on state television, Kim Jong-un further stepped up his anti-American rhetoric, and boasted about his country's nuclear arsenal.
He said: "Gone forever is the era when the United States blackmailed us with nukes. Now the United States is no longer a source of threat and fear for us and we are the very source of fear for it."
North and South Korean soldiers, citizens of countries that are still technically at war, stare at each other across the border in the demilitarised zone that separates the two Koreas
Based on estimates by a number of international bodies, North Korea is believed to have between six and 27 small nuclear warheads, although most estimates assume they have a maximum of 10 usable warheads.
North Korean army General Pak Song Yik, widely believed to be the country's new Defence Minister, stepped up the belligerence further - saying at a meeting that if the US did not abandon its tough policies towards North Korea and provoked another war, the North would fight until "there would be no one left to sign a surrender document".
North Koreans bow in front of statues of Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il, grandfather and father of current leader Kim Jong-un, during armistice day celebrations
"It is more than 60 years since the ceasefire on (the) land, but peace has not yet settled on it," he told the meeting, which included high-level officials, veterans and diplomats stationed in Pyongyang. "The past Korean War brought about the beginning of the downhill turn for the U.S., but the second Korean war will bring the final ruin to U.S. imperialism."
The military of North Korea is the largest in the world - boasting around 9.5 million permanent soldiers, reservists and paramilitaries in total. This number equates to around 40 per cent of the country's population.
