North Korea staged a student sports event Sunday in the heart of its capital, even as other countries remain vigilant against the possibility of it conducting a nuclear test or major missile launch sometime soon.

The athletic competition aimed at strengthening "national defense" took place in Kim Il Sung Square, where last weekend North Korea held a massive military parade involving tens of thousands of goose-stepping soldiers and civilians and a display of many kinds of missiles.

The competition between groups of high school students from Pyongyang wearing military-colored uniforms was organized to celebrate the 85th anniversary Tuesday of the founding of the Korean Peoples' Army.

North Korean officials said the event -- featuring such games as an obstacle race and tug-of-war between teams pulling from opposite ends of a rope -- was held in the square for the first time in more than 10 years.

Although the atmosphere in Pyongyang was peaceful, government and military officials outside North Korea remain on alert against North Korea conducting a sixth nuclear test following two last year, or the launch of a ballistic missile.

North Korea has often marked major anniversaries with weapons tests. But the 105th anniversary on April 15 of late state founder Kim Il Sung's birth passed without another weapons test, though there was a botched missile launch the following day.

"We don't need to be afraid," said Kim Chol Hong, a 16-year-old student participating in the sports competition, when asked about possible military action by the United States, which has ordered the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson to waters off the Korean Peninsula.

"If the United States continues with its hysterical actions, we will smash them under the guidance of the marshal," Kim said, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

After a series of bellicose reports, North Korea's official media were relatively quiet as well on Sunday.

For the first time in almost a week, the Korean Central News Agency issued a report of the leader's official duties, in this case visiting a pig farm of the army's air force.

Kim praised the farm built last summer as an iconic stockbreeding facility to improve the diet of the army's pilots.

==Kyodo