WILL RIPLEY: Well, Don
right now is you're seeing
the North Korean military,
the military band that's been
playing throughout this parade.
But what we saw a
few moments ago,
and I don't know if we have the
tape, if we can queue it back
up, but North Korea put its
missile arsenal on display
for this military parade.
In fact, if you look up
here, there's some jets
flying overhead right now.
If we could pan up, you
can see with the colors
of the North Korean flag.
The missiles that we just saw,
Don, I'm not a missile expert,
but I know we saw a submarine
launched ballistic missiles.
We saw missiles that are
capable of being launched
from a mobile launcher, and
just seconds before we came
on the air, we saw
these very large,
what are believed to be
intercontinental ballistic
missiles.
So these are the kind of
missiles that North Korea is
testing, and trying to
perfect, because what
their ultimate
goal is, is to have
an ICBM with a nuclear
warhead capable of reaching
the mainland US.
Most analysts say that
they're not there yet.
But you see from this arsenal
rolling by, that they are
getting closer, and
investing a tremendous amount
of their country's
very scarce resources
in developing these weapons.
So now, what you're going to see
happen, is you see behind me,
there are tens of
thousands of people holding
up these pink and red pompoms.
These are the
citizens of Pyongyang,
who have already been out
here for more than five hours.
And every time this country
holds a big celebration,
citizens are expected
to leave their jobs.
They come out to Kim Il-sung
square, this huge space
in the middle of the city.
And they stand,
and they perform,
and they spend sometimes
months rehearsing
for these types of events.
This is what happens.
This is what comes
with the territory
when you're somebody who lives
in Pyongyang, North Korea.
You're expected to be out
here in all weather conditions
to show your
revolutionary fervor,
and send a very grand message
to, not only to the people
in your own country, and to
your supreme leader Kim Jong-un,
but this is tailor-made for
the rest of the world to see,
as well.
- So, Will, there's
been an escalating
war of words between
Washington and Pyongyang.
A top North Korean
official just said
that this is a military
parade marking the day,
the day of sun, where you are.
"If the US does have
any reckless provocation
we will immediately apply
a destructive strike
with our revolutionary power.
We're prepared to respond to an
all-out war with an all-out war
and we are ready to hit
back with nuclear attacks
of our own style against
any nuclear attacks."
How much of this is real?
[music playing]
[shouting]
WILL RIPLEY: Well, I tell you,
we know that the North Koreans
are responding to provocations
from the United States, what
they consider
provocations, including
tweets from President Trump.
I was speaking with
a government official
here, just within
the last hour, who
told me, Don, that the special
military operation that North
Korea released pictures
of a couple of days ago,
was commandos jumping
out of airplanes,
they say that was
a direct response
to tweets from President Trump.
This is the first time
that we've actually heard
this from North
Korean officials,
that they conducted a special
operations exercise as a result
of President Trump's tweets.
