SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea showcased new submarine-launched ballistic missiles in development and other military equipment in a parade that underscored Leader Kim Jong Un’s challenging calls to expand the country’s nuclear weapons program.
State media said Kim was at the center of Thursday night’s parade celebrating a major rally of the ruling party in which he pledged to make maximum efforts to strengthen the nuclear and missile program that threatens Asian rivals and the US homeland to counter whatever he described it as American hostility.
At an eight-day Workers’ Party convention that ended Tuesday, Kim also revealed plans to save the country’s economy hit by US-led sanctions over its nuclear ambitions, pandemic-related border closures and natural disasters wiping out the crops.
The economic setbacks have left Kim failing to reveal his ambitious diplomacy with President Donald Trump, who was derailed by disagreements over sanctions aid in exchange for North Korean denuclearization moves, and Kim into what is clearly the most difficult moment of his nine-year rule. .
Kim’s comments are likely to put pressure on the upcoming US administration of Joe Biden, who previously called the North Korean leader a “criminal” and accused Trump of chasing spectacle rather than meaningful curbing of nuclear capabilities. from the North. Kim hasn’t ruled out talks, but said the fate of bilateral relations will depend on whether Washington abandons its hostile policies toward North Korea.
North Korean state television broadcast edited footage of the parade on Friday, showing thousands of civilians and troops roaring and fireworks exploding overhead as Kim stepped out of a building and took his place on a stage in Kim Il Sung Square, named after his grandfather and the country founder.
Kim, wearing a black fur hat and a leather trench coat, waved and smiled broadly as his troops sang, “Let’s defend Kim Jong Un with our lives!” and “With our lives protect the Workers’ Party of the Central Committee of Korea led by Great Comrade Kim Jong Un!”
Reports and video from state media suggested that Kim did not speak at the parade.
His Defense Minister, Kim Jong Gwan, said in a speech that North Korea’s military would “pre-emptively bundle our greatest strength to thoroughly punish enemy forces” if they threaten the security of the North.
Military planes flew in formation through the dark sky, using what looked like torches to form the symbol of the Workers’ Party – a hammer, brush and sickle.
Flag-waving onlookers unmasked despite a fierce domestic campaign to fend off the coronavirus cheered as troops deployed some of the country’s most advanced weapons, including submarine-launched ballistic missiles described by the official Korean Central News Agency as “ the most powerful in the world’. weapon. ”
The new type of submarine-launched missiles were larger than the missiles North Korea previously tested.
The North also showcased a variety of solid fuel weapons designed to be fired by mobile land launchers, potentially expanding its capability to hit targets in South Korea and Japan, including US military bases there.
KCNA said the parade included other missiles capable of “thoroughly destroying enemies outside of (our) territory in a preventive manner.” But it was not immediately clear whether the description referred to intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Photos and videos released by state media did not appear to contain weapons that could definitely be identified as ICBMs.
During an earlier military parade in October, North Korea unveiled what appeared to be the largest ICBM to date. The previous long-range missiles showed a potential ability to penetrate deep into the US mainland during test flights in 2017.
North Korea has been developing submarine-launched ballistic missile systems for years. Purchasing an operational system would alert its rivals and neighbors, as missiles fired underwater are more difficult to detect in advance.
Still, Kim Dong-yub, an analyst at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul and a former military official who took part in inter-Korean military talks, said the North’s supposedly new submarine-launched missiles could potentially be engineering models that should move forward. are developed before they are ready to be tested and deployed.
While Kim Jong Un pledged in Congress to develop nuclear-powered submarines capable of firing nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, it would take “a lot of time” for North Korea to overcome financial and technological problems and such systems. to produce, said the analyst.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said the way North Korea presented the submarine-launched missiles in the parade suggests that a test related to them was North Korea’s first provocation for the Biden government.
South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement that it is studying the weapons displayed by North Korea, but did not immediately release a detailed assessment.
Japanese cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato said Tokyo is following the development of North Korean missiles with “great concern”.
Nuclear-powered submarines were just one of many advanced military assets on Kim’s Congressional wish list, including extended-range ICBMs that could potentially target the U.S. mainland more reliably, new tactical nuclear weapons and warheads, spy satellites and hypersonic weapons.
It is unclear whether North Korea is fully capable of developing such systems. While the country is believed to have amassed at least dozens of nuclear weapons, external estimates of the exact status of its nuclear and missile programs vary widely.
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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.