JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, quoting South Korean government sources, said the parade would be bigger than ever before given the number of military weapons and equipment being moved to the capital.

The North is moving 240-mm multiple rocket launchers and 105-mm anti-aircraft artillery from Mirim airfield on the outskirts of Pyongyang to the city, a source was quoted as saying.

"The North probably wants to boost the image of its military might in order to cement unity within the country and secure a better position in the denuclearisation negotiations," the source added.

In addition to the troops and hardware, one million civilians were expected to gather at a rally, the newspaper said.

"The celebration will continue throughout the day. The military parade will take place in daylight and there will be a torch relay and rally at night," it quoted another source as saying.

It was unclear whether reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il, 66, would attend.

Chosun Ilbo newspaper, quoting sources in Beijing, said he collapsed last month but added that there did not seem to be a general panic over his health.

Unification ministry officials said the communist North had long been preparing to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its founding.

The North has exhorted its 23 million people to make 2008 a "watershed year for a historic turnaround" in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the birth of national founder Kim Il-Sung, late father of Jong-Il.

But the UN World Food Programme warned in July that hunger is at its worst since the famine years of the 1990s, with five to six million people in immediate need.

Against this backdrop, the main theme of the anniversary is shifting from providing a vision for economic recovery to strengthening internal unity as nuclear disarmament talks falter, experts said.

The North tested an atomic weapon in October 2006 but reached an international disarmament deal the following year.

But disarmament work has halted because of a dispute between the North and its negotiating partners about ways to verify the nuclear inventory it handed over in June.

Washington refused to remove the North from a terrorism blacklist until agreement on verification is reached, fuelling frustration in Pyongyang.

The North might test-fire missiles in October or November in order to gain the upper hand in the lead-up to the US presidential election, Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies has said.