Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Saturday his country was prepared to fight ‘any kind of war waged by the US imperialists’ in a televised speech at the founding anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party.

‘The party’s revolutionary armament means we are ready to fight any kind of war waged by the US imperialists,’ Kim said at Pyongyang’s main Kim Il Sung Square, where a senior Chinese Communist Party official was present as an envoy of President Xi Jinping.

North Korea regularly condemns war games conducted by the United States and South Korea as preparations for war.

Pyongyang on Saturday kicked off a major military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of its ruling Workers’ Party, presided over by Kim, live TV footage showed.

Wearing his customary dark Mao suit, Kim received salutes from a commander of honorary guards before inspecting thousands of soldiers taking part in the display, Pyongyang’s Korean Central TV showed.

Moments earlier, thousands of goose-stepping troops in tight formations marched into Kim Il Sung square in the capital. ‘Long live the invincible Workers Party of Korea,’ read a large banner slung from a gas-filled balloon floating over the square.

Buildings surrounding the plaza were also festooned with red hammer-and-sickle party flags and North Korea’s blue, white and red national flags.

Beyond the actual parade route, the square was a sea of colour, packed with tens of thousands of men and women waving flowers and flags above their heads.