SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for the building of a "people's paradise" as Pyongyang marked the anniversary of the end of the Korean War on Saturday.

The three-year Korean War ended 71 years ago on July 27, 1953, with a ceasefire that has never been replaced by a peace treaty.

Pyongyang regards the conflict as a victory, and the anniversary is a public holiday in the isolated nation.

Kim said on Friday it was the "sacred mission and duty of our generation" to "reliably defend our ideology and social system" and "build a people's paradise," Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

He also hailed China's support during the war and said the "friendship established as the ties of kindred would be firmly carried forward."

Kim visited memorials honoring the veterans of the war, including the Tower of Friendship commemorating the Chinese People's Liberation Army soldiers who fought alongside North Korean forces, KCNA said.

Pyongyang's state media also said young North Koreans celebrated the anniversary, vowing "to inherit the soul of the victorious wartime generation."