More than 100,000 citizens, soldiers and senior government and army officials flocked to Kim Il Sung Square, according to footage from Associated Press Television News in Pyongyang.

Signs carried slogans praising North Korean founder Kim Il Sung and the country’s "military first" ideology.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency quoted General Jang Jong Nam as saying that "there remains between the North and the South only physical settlement of returning fire for fire."

The North has lashed out with increasing frequency at a Seoul government that has halted unconditional aid and linked South Korean assistance to progress in North Korea’s nuclear disarmament efforts.

In late June, North Korea’s military vowed to retaliate for anti-Pyongyang signs posted at front-line South Korean army units.

The two Koreas are technically still at war because their 1950s conflict ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.

Their animosity has deepened since North Korea allegedly torpedoed a South Korean warship in March last year. The North also shelled a South Korean border island in November. A total of 50 South Koreans were killed.

In May, North Korea threatened to attack because South Korean troops used photos of the ruling North Korean family as targets during firing drills.