North Korea held a midnight military parade in Pyongyang early Thursday to mark the 73rd anniversary of its founding, the country's state media reports.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared on a platform in Kim Il Sung square and waved at the crowd.
However, there was no mention of him giving a speech, according to Rodong Sinmun.
North Korea experts noted that images of Kim appeared to show the North Korean leader has lost weight, adding support to a state media report from June that he had slimmed down.
"It's striking how much healthier Kim Jong Un is looking in these photos from yesterday," tweeted Martyn Williams, a Fellow working on the 38 North Project at the Stimson Center. "However he is doing it -- and there are theories -- he looks a lot better than he did a few months ago."
State media reports made no mention of Kim Jong Un's sister and high official Kim Yo Jong.
During the parade, planes flew above Pyongyang firing flares, and paratroopers dropped from aircraft in the night sky, Rodong Sinmun said.
Down in the street, marching bands led a parade, which included laborers, research units and an "emergency disease prevention unit," it added. Images of the parade showed a large contingent of marchers dressed in orange hazmat-style suits and gas masks.
The notoriously reclusive country severed almost all of its ties with the outside world in 2020 to prevent an influx of coronavirus cases. And to date, it seems to have worked.
North Korea has not reported a major outbreak of Covid-19, and there have been no indications one has taken place, though experts doubt Pyongyang's claim the country has not seen a single case of the virus.
The parade was held marking the 73rd founding anniversary of North Korea.
Most if not all foreign diplomats and aid workers have left the country, citing shortages of goods and extreme restrictions on daily life.
In June, Kim fired several senior officials who failed to enforce North Korea's stringent Covid-19 prevention, state news agency KCNA reported. It appears some members of the upper echelons of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea were replaced, KCNA said.
