In another hint that North Korea may be increasingly willing to engage with the international community, Pyongyang has announced that its spectacular mass games will return this September after a five-year hiatus.

Traditionally, the mass games have involved as many as 100,000 performers in massive synchronised displays of gymnastics and dance in the 150,000-seat Rungrado 1st of May Stadium, the largest such venue of its kind in the world.

Pyongyang has provided no explanations either for why the mass games were suspended in 2013 or why they are resuming now, although the bout of detente that has taken place between North Korea, its immediate neighbours and the United States since the turn of the year may have had a bearing on the decision.

“We heard the first rumours that the games might return back in late February but we only got final confirmation on Monday”, said Simon Cockerell, general manager of Beijing-based Koryo Tours. “But we are hearing that practices are taking place all over Pyongyang right now”.

The most famous mass games event were the Arirang performances, which told the propagandistic tale of North Korea’s resurgence after the twin tragedies of Japanese colonial rule and then war.