On October 10, North Korea held a military parade in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea. According to North Korea’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the parade took place at Kim Il Sung Square.
During the military parade, North Korea showcased its newest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which is called the Hwasong-20.
“The spectators broke into the most enthusiastic cheers when the column of Hwasongpho-20 ICBMs, the most powerful nuclear strategic weapon system of the DPRK, entered the square, filling the track,” the KCNA reported. (DPRK is an acronym of North Korea’s official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.)
KCNA also drew attention to the presence of “Chonma-20 tanks, the modern-type main battle tanks with tremendous striking capability and reliable protection system,” which showed “the will to annihilate the enemies.”
As North Korea is now one of the key countries of the anti-U.S. coalition in East Asia, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, attended the parade alongside Vietnamese leader To Lam.
While demonstrating the consistent development of its nuclear capabilities, North Korea once again emphasized “self-defense” as the motivation for its nuclear development.
“The latest weapons are associated with the far-sightedness, resolute decision, iron faith and boundless devotion of the WPK,” KCNA extolled, adding that the military build-up was meant “to defend the dignity and well-being of the country and the people and genuine peace.”
In the wake of the failed summit meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in February 2019, Kim Jong Un, the autocratic leader of North Korea, has solidified his ambition to build ever-more advanced nuclear weapons. In recent years, he even amended North Korea’s constitution to codify the nuclear weapons program into the country’s top law. During the military parade on October 10, Kim again raised the necessity of strengthening his country’s military capabilities.
“Our army should continue to grow into an invincible entity that destroys all threats approaching our range of self-defense by dint of its political, ideological, military and technical superiority overwhelming the enemy, and it should steadily strengthen itself into elite armed forces which win victory after victory on the strength of morality and discipline,” Kim was quoted as saying in the KCNA report.
Later this month, South Korea will host the APEC 2025 Summit meeting. The leaders of the United States and China are expected to attend, sparking speculation that there may be an attempt to coax Kim to attend for sideline meetings.
During his summit with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung in August, Trump stressed his willingness to meet with Kim again. Later, Kim signaled he is open to such a meeting as well – provided the United States drops its demands for denuclearization.