North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a military parade displaying new drones and nuclear-capable ICBMs, flanked by Russian and Chinese officials. The parade marked the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice and showcased North Korea’s latest weaponry, including a new underwater nuclear attack drone.
Flanked by visiting Russian and Chinese officials, Kim Jong Un oversaw a North Korean military parade featuring new drones and Pyongyang’s nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, state media reported Friday.
At least four new North Korean military drones were towed on trailers through Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung square at the parade late Thursday, state media images showed, while another drone appeared to conduct a flyover overhead.
Standing between Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese politburo member Li Hongzhong in the VIP viewing stands, Kim smiled and saluted as thousands of soldiers marched past, trailed by the country’s most powerful ICBMs, which are banned under UN sanctions.
The event, featuring Kim’s first-known foreign guests since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, was to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, which ended open hostilities and is celebrated as Victory Day.
Kim “extended warm militant greetings” to the parade, the official Korean Central News Agency said, and North Korea’s defence minister Kang Sun Nam made a speech.
The United States has no chance “of survival in case they use nuclear weapons against the DPRK”, Kang said, referring to the North by its official name.
He warned that any attempts by the United States to use armed force against the North would cause an “unimaginable and unforeseen crisis”.
The parade featured an array of new weaponry, including some first unveiled at a defence expo on Wednesday in Pyongyang, visited by Kim and Shoigu.
North Korea’s new underwater nuclear attack drone, called the “Haeil”, appeared at the parade for the first time, Seoul-based specialist site NK News reported.
“The strategic reconnaissance drone and the multi-purpose attack drone which was newly developed and produced… made circular flights in the sky above the (Kim Il Sung square,” KCNA said.
The “excitement and great joy of the spectators reached its height” when the nuclear-armed country’s newest ICBM — the solid-fuel Hwasong-18, tested in April and July this year — was paraded through the square, KCNA said.
The tests were roundly condemned by Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, and violate UN sanctions banning the North from any tests using ballistic missile technology.
Marie de La Roche Saint-André, with AFP
