PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) - The Latest on tensions on the Korean Peninsula (all times local):
11:10 a.m.
North Korea's capital is quiet on Tuesday amid expectations of some sort of a big event to mark the anniversary of the founding of the country's military.
The morning came and went without any nuclear tests or ballistic missile launches and all that is publicly scheduled for the day are gatherings for mass dancing, a common celebratory feature of major North Korean holidays.
The main political event to mark the anniversary apparently was a "national meeting" held the day before, when thousands of senior military and civilian officials gathered at the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un did not attend. It was not known how he is marking Tuesday's anniversary.
At the meeting, army Gen. Pak Yong Sik, North Korea's minister of defense, reiterated Pyongyang's claim that the country is ready to use pre-emptive strikes or any other measures it deems necessary to defend itself against the "U.S. imperialists."
He told the gathering: "The situation prevailing on the Korean Peninsula is so tense that a nuclear war may break out due to the frantic war drills of the U.S. imperialists and their vassal forces for aggression."