Pyongyang
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un warned that his country would “fully mobilise” its nuclear force if threatened as he oversaw an early morning military parade showing off the new hardware.
The event, which aimed to galvanise the secretive country at a time of increasing economic hardship and isolation due to the pandemic, took place before dawn on Saturday and edited footage was broadcast later in the day.
The unveiling of the seemingly new weapon followed a familiar display of goose-stepping troops, armoured vehicles and a broad range of smaller ballistic missiles, all in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the country’s ruling party.
State television showed an ICBM on a transporter vehicle with at least 22 wheels, larger than anything previously displayed by the nuclear-armed country.
Several analysts described it as the largest road-mobile liquid-fuelled missile anywhere, with Harry Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest saying it was “much bigger and clearly more powerful than anything in the DPRK’s arsenal”.
It was the first time since 2018 that North Korea has shown ICBMs, capable of reaching the continental United States, at a military parade, and follows a pledge by Kim in December 2019 to demonstrate a “new strategic weapon” to the world.
Edward Howell, a North Korea expert at Oxford University, said the new weapon “underscores how Kim wants the DPRK [North Korea] to be accepted as a nuclear-armed state, and that North Korea is not disarming any time soon. Even despite covid, North Korea, in its eyes, is a nuclear state.”
In a speech to the crowds, who did not show much sign of social distancing measures, an at times emotional Kim, dressed in a gray suit and tie, repeatedly thanked his “great people” for overcoming “unexpected” burdens and sticking closely to pandemic prevention measures to keep the country Covid-19-free, a claim that has been questioned by outside health experts.—Reuters
