N. Korean military stages parade for late leader

North Korea's military paraded Thursday to mark the birthday of late leader Kim Jong-Il, pledging to defend his son and successor Jong-Un with their lives and crush enemy forces if attacked. Battles can break out without warning, military chief Ri Yong-Ho told the televised ceremony, vowing to "wipe out US imperialists and South Korean puppet traitors" and reunify the peninsula in case of war. "Kim Jong-Un! Protect him with all our might!" roared thousands of troops from the army, navy and air force, state television showed. The event was the latest in a series designed to bolster loyalty to the Kim dynasty, after Kim Jong-Il died suddenly on December 17 at age 69 and was succeeded by his young and inexperienced son. State media has been further burnishing the image of the family which has ruled since the communist nation was created in 1948, in an apparent attempt to justify its second hereditary succession. The parade outside Pyongyang's Kumsusan Memorial Palace marked the changing of its name to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a TV announcer said, in a tribute to the late leader and to his own father and founding president Kim Il-Sung. A black-overcoated Jong-Un presided in near-freezing temperatures over the parade, which also featured fireworks and a release of balloons before a march-past by goose-stepping troops. Dozens of military trucks, artillery and rocket launchers were also on show. Just beforehand, hundreds of top military and civilian officials paid tribute inside the marble-pillared palace to Kim Jong-Il. Soldiers in large-brim caps saluted a smiling portrait. Civilians bowed deeply before the image as solemn music played. Jong-Un, believed in his late 20s, led the commemoration inside Kumsusan, where his father's embalmed body will lie in state. Kim Il-Sung's body is already on display there. Their voices throbbing with emotion, TV commentators said "father General" Kim Jong-Il had "brought proud victory and glory to the country". "There will be only victory and glory in the future of North Korea...led by the respected leader Kim Jong-Un," a commentator predicted. TV footage depicted the late Kim, whose 17-year rule began with a famine that killed hundreds of thousands, as a caring father figure. "The General (Kim) took time out of his busy schedule and deigned to visit my daughter's home, listening to this old farmer's concerns," an old woman said on TV. "There are no other leaders in the world like the General." Jong-Un has however inherited severe problems. The crumbling command economy is beset by shortages of power and raw materials, and severe food shortages have lingered since famine in the 1990s. Gross national income in 2010 was about one-fortieth the size of South Korea's and life expectancy is more than a decade shorter, according to Seoul's statistical agency. In South Korea some 30 former defectors launched about 140,000 leaflets opposing the succession across the heavily guarded border. Banners reading "Day of national disgrace" and "Kim Jong-Il, the murderer" were hung from 10 large gas-filled balloons which carried the leaflet bundles. North Korean and US officials will hold talks in Beijing next week about a possible resumption of six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations, a meeting which could give some clues about policy priorities under Jong-Un. Seoul officials say the current focus is on ensuring internal stability. In the run-up to the birth anniversary, the former leader has been posthumously appointed a "Generalissimo". A statue has been unveiled in Pyongyang, showing him on horseback alongside Kim Il-Sung. Commemorative stamps and coins, an art exhibition and a festival of Kimjongilia -- a hybrid red begonia -- also mark the day, as does an inscription 120 metres (400 feet) wide carved on a mountainside. Jong-Un oversaw the dispatch of birthday gifts by ship or helicopter to children on islands in the Yellow Sea, state media said.