North Korea appears to have held a large military parade – Seoul

A man watches a television newscast that broadcasts an archive recording of a military parade showing North Korean soldiers and weapons, at a train station in Seoul on October 10, 2020. – North Korea, with nuclear weapons, display its latest and advanced weapons. the streets of Pyongyang on October 10, as the coronavirus-barricaded country celebrated the 75th anniversary of leader Kim Jong Un’s ruling party. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)

Seoul – Nuclear-armed North Korea appears to have held a giant military parade early Saturday morning, Seoul said, and Pyongyang’s latest and most advanced weapons are expected to have been on display in the country’s capital with coronavirus barricades. .

The long-awaited display is part of the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the ruling Northern Workers Party.

These events typically feature thousands of soldiers passing through Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square, named for the founder of North Korea, under the gaze of his grandson Kim Jong Un, the third member of the family to rule the country.

A cavalcade of larger and larger armored vehicles and tanks typically follows, culminating in the missiles Pyongyang wants to highlight.

Observers are watching them closely for clues about the development of their weapons.

“Signs of a military parade, involving large-scale equipment and people, were spotted in Kim Il Sung Square this morning,” Seoul’s joint chief of staff said in a statement.

The intelligence agencies of South Korea and the United States were “closely following the event,” they added.

The parade is part of commemorations marking 75 years since the founding of Kim’s ruling party, an anniversary that 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 Kim.

‘Big step forward’

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 a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) or intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the continental US would appear, perhaps even one with multiple reentry vehicle capabilities that could allow it to evade. US defense systems.

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.

Displaying its most advanced weapons “will be a sign of a great step forward in Pyongyang’s credible threat capability,” he said.

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.

State broadcaster KCTV did not broadcast any morning parades live and had not broadcast images of the same in the afternoon.

But the specialized service NK News cited several sources who said that they had heard sounds of airplanes, drones and heavy machinery during the first hours of Saturday morning.

The North has generally held its parades in the morning and generally broadcasts them in real time or near live, although the last two, both in 2018, were shown later that day or the following morning.

Former North Korean analyst of the US government, Rachel Lee, cautioned against interpreting the decision not to broadcast it live “without knowing what was said and shown during the parade.”

Masks and missiles?

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 “super-spreader-like deadly 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.”

/ MUF

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