North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has displayed his military’s most powerful weapons, including an apparently new intercontinental ballistic missile, in a huge parade.
Among the attendees were Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang, a delegation from Russia led by former President Dmitry Medvedev, as well as Vietnam’s Communist Party chief To Lam.
The show, which began amid rain on Friday night and coincided with the 80th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), showcased Kim’s growing diplomatic clout and his relentless effort to build up a vast weapons arsenal.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KNCA) said Saturday that the show featured a new, as-yet-untested intercontinental ballistic missile called the Hwasong-20, which it described as North Korea’s “most powerful nuclear strategic weapon system.”
What did Kim say in his speech?
In a speech at the event, Kim said the North Korean military should develop into “an invincible unit that destroys all threats.”
Photos and video from North Korean and Russian state media showed thousands of spectators in attendance.
KCNA said that the columns of troops marching during the event included an “invincible foreign operations unit that fully displayed the spirit of the Korean people,” suggesting that they were troops Kim had sent to Russia to join the war effort against Ukraine.
Kim also spoke Friday with Medvedev, who said the sacrifice of North Korean soldiers fighting for Moscow in the military strike against Ukraine proved trust in relations between the two countries.
KCNA said Kim told Medvedev he hoped he would continue to strengthen cooperation with Moscow and closely engage in various exchanges to achieve common goals.
Edited by: Shawn Sinico