(Bloomberg) — North Korea staged its first military parade in seven months, with leader Kim Jong Un pledging to strengthen his state’s atomic arsenal as he presided over an event showcasing nuclear-capable weapons that threaten the U.S. and its allies.
The parade was held Monday night in central Pyongyang, the state’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday. The event included displays of tactical weapons and the country’s biggest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-17, KCNA said, adding its missile can respond to “any kind of warfare in the sky, the earth, the sea, and the universe.”
“In preparation for the turbulent political and military situation and all kinds of crises in the future, we will go forward faster and more steadfastly on the road of self-defense and modern force construction,” Kim said in a speech at the parade, according to KCNA. “We will continue to take measures to strengthen and develop the nuclear force at the highest possible speed.”
North Korea hasn’t released video of the event, but its state media has put out photos that include images of the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, hypersonic missile systems and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
“When Kim Jong Un arrived together with his wife Ri Sol Ju, all the participants broke into stormy cheers of ‘hurrah!’ as a token of their deep reverence for him, the invincible and iron-willed commander representing the mightiness of the Party and the state,” KCNA reported.
Kim was dressed in a white military tunic, reminiscent of what his grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung had worn at similar events. The appearance was a rare one for Ri, who doesn’t come out often in public and was last noted in state media for attending a Lunar New Year art performance in February.
The parade to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of its army comes as North Korea appears ready to test its first nuclear device since 2017 and has rolled out in recent months new weapons designed to evade U.S.-operated missile shields. Tensions are also set to increase when South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol takes office on May 10 with pledges to pursue a tough line on Pyongyang.
U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to visit South Korea and Japan in late May, according to local media reports. Any display of the weapons in Kim’s nuclear arsenal would serve as a reminder of the pressing security problems posed by Pyongyang that have simmered as his administration has been focused on the war in Ukraine.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, especially relevant to North Korea and the new South Korean presidential administration, present opportunities for Kim to demonstrate his country’s military prowess,” said Soo Kim, a policy analyst with the Rand Corp. who previously worked at the Central Intelligence Agency. “That the date marks an important anniversary for the North Korean military helps justify the parade.”
Satellite imagery of training indicated the parade in Kim Il Sung Square may have involved about 20,000 troops and more than 250 pieces of military equipment, including hypersonic missile systems and an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to deliver nuclear warheads to the U.S., Yonhap News Agency reported an unnamed security source as saying.
North Korea’s biggest display of new weaponry under Kim Jong Un came at an October 2020 parade that included what the first public showing of the Hwasong-17, which weapons experts said was likely the world’s largest road-worthy ICBM. The parade took place at midnight and video of it was broadcast the following evening.
Kim Jong Un Lied About Firing Newer Version of ICBM, Seoul Says
The Hwasong-17 seems to be designed to carry a multiple nuclear warhead payload to the U.S. and appears to have failed shortly after takeoff in the skies over Pyongyang in a test in March, South Korean authorities and weapons experts said. North Korea conducted a successful ICBM test eight days later, with South Korea saying its neighbor fired off a different rocket — a less advanced Hwasong-15 missile that was used in its last ICBM test in 2017.
North Korea tried to deceive the world and its people about the type of missile it fired off, South Korea said, putting together a slickly produced video that combined the two launches and claiming it showed Kim overseeing a successful launch of the Hwasong-17 — despite the outside world seeing it as an embarrassing failure. Tightly controlled North Korea blocked any mention of the mishap to its people.
“If the Hwasong-17 was not displayed at the parade, it would give an impression that North Korea acknowledges the failure,” said Wang Son-taek, director of the Global Policy Center at the Han Pyeong Peace Institute in South Korea.
(Updates with KCNA reports.)
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