North Koreans voted Sunday in a predetermined election for a rubber-stamp parliament -- an exercise that doubles as a national head count and may offer clues to power shifts in Pyongyang.

The vote to elect representatives for the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) was taking place as scheduled, the state-run KCNA news agency said, adding that voter turnout was a whopping 91 percent as of 2.00 pm (0500 GMT).

North Korea's state media published photos Friday of Vice Marshall Choe Ryong-Hae, quashing intense speculation that the man seen as the number two to paramount leader Kim Jong-Un had been purged.

The photo showing Choe accompanying Kim on an inspection of an air force unit on Thursday ran on the front page of the ruling Workers' Party official newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun.

Beijing expressed concern Thursday after North Korea fired a rocket into the flight path of a Chinese airliner during weapons tests.

Pyongyang has drawn criticism from Seoul and Washington for firing half a dozen short-range missiles off its east coast in recent days, followed on Tuesday by a volley of rockets from multiple launchers.

The uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un had been losing influence before he was executed in a shock purge last year, according to a Pentagon report released Wednesday.

The execution of Jang Song-Thaek as a "traitor" in December by the Pyongyang regime came as a surprise to outside governments but the report said his downfall "is unlikely to lead to major changes in defense policy or internal stability in the near term."

North Korea on Thursday rejected Seoul's request for talks on reunions for families separated by the Korean War, further souring the mood after a recent upswing in cross-border ties.

The North's negative response came as military tensions simmer, with South Korea conducting annual joint exercises with the United States and Pyongyang carrying out a series of missile and rocket tests.

North Korea Wednesday defended a recent series of missile and rocket tests and hit back at "vicious" criticism of the launches by Seoul and Washington.

The tests were largely seen as a calculated display of military muscle-flexing to reflect the North's anger over ongoing South Korea-U.S. military drills.

North Korea poses a mounting threat to the United States due to its pursuit of long-range missiles and nuclear weapons, the Pentagon said Tuesday in its latest strategy document.

Describing the regime in Pyongyang as "closed and authoritarian," the Defense Department said the U.S. military would maintain a major presence in the region and keep up investments in missile defense.

South Korea on Wednesday sent a formal request to North Korea calling for talks next week on holding further reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

The message sent by fax across the heavily fortified frontier proposed a meeting on March 12 at the border truce village of Panmunjom, the Unification Ministry said.

North Korea fired a volley of rockets from multiple launchers into the sea Tuesday, in an apparent show of force to coincide with South Korea-US joint military exercises, South Korean officials said.

Three rockets were fired in the morning from a multiple launch rocket system, the South's defense ministry said.

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye Tuesday called for new talks with North Korea on allowing families separated by the Korean War to exchange letters and hold reunions via video conferencing.

Park said that more than 6,000 people should meet with relatives from the other side every year if all separated families are to see their loved ones at least once before they die, according the president's office.