In further signs of strain between North Korea and its sole ally China, Pyongyang has edited a senior Chinese apparatchik out of file footage of a massive military parade last year.

The segment, part of a program Saturday on state-run [North] Korean Central TV to hail and praise the achievements of last year, shows six shots of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watching the Oct. 10 parade marking the Workers Party's 70th anniversary. Next to Kim at the event stood Liu Yunshan, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee China had dispatched to the event.

At the time Liu was considered senior enough to herald a thaw in relations, and he chatted amiably with Kim during the event.