South Korean President Park Geun-hye has renewed her calls for Pyongyang to "immediately" stop building weapons of mass destruction and cease developing its nuclear program.

She made the speech during a national ceremony to mark the 71st anniversary of South Korean liberation from Japanese colonial rule. 

10 South Korean lawmakers used South Korea's liberation holiday to visit a group of disputed islands off of the nation's eastern coast -- known as the Dokdo islands in South Korea and the Takeshima islands in Japan.  Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga protested the move and called on Seoul to prohibit its politicians from visiting the islands in the future.