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| ▲ This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 9, 2023, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attending a nighttime parade in Pyongyang the previous day to mark the 75th founding anniversary of its armed forces. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 9, 2023, shows the North staging a military parade at Kim Il Sung Square the previous day to mark the 75th founding anniversary of its armed forces. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) N Korea-military parade
(LEAD) N. Korean leader attends military parade; ICBMs on display
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with more details)
SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea confirmed Thursday it had staged a massive military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of its armed forces, with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which it claimed to have the maximum nuclear attack capability, displayed.
Its leader Kim Jong-un attended the event along with his wife Ri Sol-ju and apparent second child, Ju-ae, but gave no public speech, according to Pyongyang's state-controlled media.
Flanked by top military and party officials, Kim took to the reviewing stand to watch the nighttime military parade held in Kim Il Sung Square on Wednesday to mark the Korean People's Army (KPA) anniversary.
Clad in a long black coat and wearing a felt hat, Kim smiled and waved to the crowd, photos released by the KCNA showed. His outfit was reminiscent of those of the country's late founder, Kim Il-sung.
ICBMs and other major weapons rolled through the square, with the North claiming ICBMs showed off the "maximum" nuclear attack capability, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
The North also presented "tactical nuclear units" in a demonstration of its "war deterrence and counterstrike capabilities."
According to satellite images from the U.S.-based space technology firm Maxar Technologies, the North appears to have paraded a range of new ballistic missiles, including its Hwasong-17 ICBMs on a mobile launcher.
Though many of the missiles remain unidentified, some observers raised the possibility that the list of the missiles on display might include a solid-propellant one that the North has recently been working on.
The North is expected to air recorded footage of the military parade later in the day.
The secretive regime has ramped up efforts to advance its weapons program in defiance of multiple U.N. sanctions on the North.
At a party meeting late last year, Kim Jong-un called for an "exponential" increase in its nuclear arsenal, raising the need to mass-produce tactical nuclear weapons apparently targeting the South and to develop a new ICBM.
Since Kim took power following his father's death in late 2011, his regime has staged 13 military parades, including the latest one.
[https://youtu.be/s_5Ncb1FhOU]
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