Kim Jong Un will potentially parade new weaponry through Pyongyang’s streets in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the end of Korean War as he hosts delegations from China and Russia, his two most important security and economic partners.
(Bloomberg) — Kim Jong Un will potentially parade new weaponry through Pyongyang’s streets in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the end of Korean War as he hosts delegations from China and Russia, his two most important security and economic partners.
Even though the Armistice Agreement signed on July 27, 1953, brought a cease-fire to the three-year conflict, North Korea and former Communist bloc partners are celebrating what they dub the “Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War.”
Satellite imagery indicates North Korea has been planning a military parade in Kim Il Sung Square in central Pyongyang to mark the anniversary, Yonhap News reported. If North Korea holds to form, its propaganda machine will edit video of the parade and line it up for broadcast on state television on Thursday night several hours after the event takes place.
The celebrations come at a crucial time for Kim as he seeks to ease up on pandemic border controls that slammed the brakes on his economy. He’s also looking for support from his powerful friends in Moscow and Beijing to fend off new sanctions as he increases the potency of his nuclear arms program designed to deliver strikes on the US and its allies.
Read: Secret Deals With Russia Help Kim Jong Un Fund Nuclear Program
Kim appears to have found new ways of making money by selling munitions to Russia to aid in its war on Ukraine, the US has said. Signs of a resumption of trade with China, historically North Korea’s biggest trading partner, led Fitch Solutions to estimate the economy returned to growth after two full years of contraction, though significant uncertainties remain.
Soo Kim, a former Korea analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency who now works at US-based management consulting firm LMI, said North Korea’s new sources of funds give its leader the chance to obtain crucial supplies of food and oil and to join forces with President Vladimir Putin.
This arrangement serves to “to show that they’re both resistant to the US-led effort to bring peace and to restore international cooperation,” she said in a video interview with Bloomberg News.
The Chinese delegation for the anniversary is led by Li Hongzhong, who sits on the Communist Party of China’s 24-member Politburo, the Russian delegation is led by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. They appear to be the first known foreigners on an official visit to the North since the pandemic started.
The appearance of the Kremlin’s top military official in charge of the war on Ukraine has fueled speculation that he could be discussing arms supplies, South Korea’s Yonhap reported. Shoigu met North Korea’s defense minister during his visit and they discussed bolstering ties, his office said in a statement released on Telegram.
One item that North Korea has and Russia likely wants is artillery shells that are interoperable with the Soviet-era weaponry pushed into service in Ukraine. The Kremlin’s war machine has been burning through its stocks and scrambling for supplies as the conflict continues.
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The military parade would allow Kim to showcase his latest weaponry to China, which fought with North Korea in the war. The Soviet Union helped supply the political and military backing to state founder Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of the current leader who sent troops across the border in 1950 to start the fighting.
At North Korea’s last military parade, which was held in February, the regime rolled out its biggest display of intercontinental ballistic missiles. This included what appeared to be a new, solid-fuel ICBM. Kim also brought along his daughter in apparent effort to show that the Kim dynasty has a new generation of leaders ready and it will depend on nuclear arms for its survival.
Since then, North Korea has twice tested the new solid fuel Hwasong-18 ICBM, designed to carry a multiple nuclear weapons. Solid-fuel missiles have the propellants baked into rockets, allowing them to stay hidden from spy satellites. They can also be rolled out and fired in minutes, giving the US less time to prepare for interception. The challenge becomes even greater if the missile carries several warheads instead of one.
The other ICBMs North Korea has tested are liquid-fueled, which make them vulnerable to attack before launch as it takes time to fill their engines with propellant on the pad.
“It’s getting increasingly hard to predict what new weapon programs Pyongyang may still have up their sleeve to debut at their next parade given the range of new systems both paraded and tested in recent years,” said Joseph Dempsey, a research associate for defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
–With assistance from Stella Ko and Brian Fowler.
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