N. Korea holds celebrations to mark 76th state founding anniv.

North Korea has held celebrative events to mark the 76th anniversary of the regime's founding, with senior officials visiting a mausoleum to pay tribute to the country's late former leaders, state media reported Monday.

Premier Kim Tok-hun and other key officials on Sunday visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the embalmed bodies of the current leader's father, Kim Jong-il, and grandfather, Kim Il-sung, lie in state, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The North's leader visited the mausoleum in 2012, 2018 and 2021 to mark the Sept. 9 anniversary, but he seems to have skipped the visit this year, given that there is no such media report.

North Korea established the regime on Sept. 9, 1948, led by national founder Kim Il-sung, and has celebrated the date as the national founding day.

The North also held an outside rally and an evening gala in Pyongyang on Sunday to mark the anniversary, the KCNA said.

The events brought together "labor innovators and meritorious persons from various fields" across the nations as well as veteran cadres, it said. Among the audience were also visiting delegates from an association of Koreans residing in Japan.

North Korea usually held a military parade on every fifth or 10th major holiday anniversaries.

Last year, North Korea staged a paramilitary parade centered around its reserve forces to mark the 75th anniversary of the country's founding. In an exceptional case, it held a civil-paramilitary parade on Sept. 9, 2021, on the 73rd anniversary. (Yonhap)