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NORTH KOREA staged a giant military parade today, television footage showed, with thousands of troops without masks defying the coronavirus threat and Pyongyang is expected to display its latest and most advanced weapons.
The long-awaited display is part of the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the ruling Northern Workers Party.
State broadcaster KCTV showed squad after squad of armed soldiers and armored vehicles lined up in the streets of Pyongyang ready to march through Kim Il Sung Square in a nighttime display.
None of the participants or the audience lined up in the stands wore masks, but there were far fewer citizens than usual in the square itself.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told the audience at the military parade that he was grateful that “not a single person” in the North has contracted the coronavirus that has swept the world since it emerged in neighboring China.
parade
The program began with an image of a propaganda poster for the commemorations, which showed three North Koreans holding their symbols of a hammer, sickle and brush, and the slogan: “The greatest glory to our great party.”
North Korea’s military parades typically culminate with the missiles that Pyongyang wants to highlight, and observers watch them closely for clues about the development of their weapons.
According to the Seoul joint chiefs of staff, the display actually took place in the early hours of Saturday, when they said in a statement that “signs of a military parade, involving large-scale equipment and people, were detected in Kim Square. Il Sung. ”.
The intelligence agencies of South Korea and the United States were “closely following the event,” they added.
The ruling party’s anniversary comes during a difficult year for North Korea, as the coronavirus pandemic and recent storms add pressure to the heavily sanctioned country.
Pyongyang closed its borders eight months ago to try to protect itself from the virus, which first appeared in neighboring China, and has yet to confirm a single case.
Last month, North troops shot dead a South Korean fisheries official who had entered its waters, apparently as a precaution against the disease, prompting fury in Seoul and a rare apology from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. .
North Korea is widely believed to have continued to develop its arsenal, which it says it needs to protect itself from an American invasion, through nuclear negotiations with Washington, stalled since the collapse of a summit in Hanoi early last year.
Analysts were hoping that a new submarine-launched ballistic missile or ICBM capable of reaching the continental US would appear, perhaps even one with multiple re-entry vehicle capabilities that could allow it to evade the defense systems of the United States. USA
The anniversary of the Workers’ Party means North Korea “has a political and strategic need to do something bigger,” said Sung-yoon Lee, a professor of Korean studies at Tufts University in the United States.
The video broadcast by North Korea’s KRT shows a military parade in Pyongyang.
Source: AP / PA Images
Displaying its most advanced weapons “will be a sign of a great step forward in Pyongyang’s credible threat capability,” he said.
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But unlike many previous occasions, no international media was allowed in to watch the parade, and with many foreign embassies in Pyongyang closing their doors in the face of coronavirus restrictions, few outside observers were left in the city.
Foreigners were not welcome at the anniversary commemorations, according to the Russian embassy in Pyongyang, which posted a message from the authorities on its Facebook page urging diplomats and other international representatives not to “approach or take photos” of the places.
In late December, Kim threatened to demonstrate a “new strategic weapon,” but analysts say Pyongyang will continue to tread carefully to avoid jeopardizing its chances with Washington ahead of next month’s presidential elections.
Displaying its strategic weapons in a military parade “would be consistent with what Kim Jong Un promised,” analyst Lee said, while “would not provoke the United States as much as a test launch of a strategic weapon.”
But Harry Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest warned that if thousands of people were involved, it could turn into a “deadly super-spreader-like event” unless “extreme precautions” were taken.
The impoverished nation’s dilapidated healthcare system would struggle to cope with a major virus outbreak, adding that such protective measures seemed “quite unlikely.”
“Clearly, masks and missiles don’t mix,” he said.
– © AFP 2020
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