Today is the Fourth of July - American Independence Day - and as preparations are underway for tanks and other military hardware to join the planned parade in Washington DC, we bring you a series of videos (all found on Youtube) of North Korean parades in 1948, 1958, 1978, 1988, 1998, 2008, and 2018.

Below is Russian footage from one of the earliest, if not the earliest (fact checkers, any help?), Korean People's Army parade though the streets of Pyongyang. From the signs in the background, this parade appears to have taken place on the 3rd anniversary of the the liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule on 15 August 1948.

And here a May Day parade in 1958, shot in colour film on Kim Il Sung Square by a foreign dignitary.

Skipping ahead twenty-years and 19 days, we have a visit from Romania's Nicolae Ceaușescu to Pyongyang.

Then a parade for the 40th anniversary of of the foundation of the DPRK on 09 September 1988.

Then National Day in 1998 for the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK.

And a decade later in 2008 for the 60th anniversary.

And some video of a parade in September 2018 for the 70th anniversary of the DPRK.

Military parades don't happen as often as people think in North Korea. We suspect the next one might be 15 August 2020 for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Korea from Japanese rule.

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Updated 4 July 2019