North Korea Shows off Most Powerful Missile at Military Parade

The event to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party came as leader Kim Jong Un was emboldened by the war in Ukraine and received critical support from Russia after sending thousands of North Korean soldiers to fight alongside Moscow’s forces.

Russian Security Council deputy chairman and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, attended the parade on Friday along with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Vietnamese leader To Lam, according to footage released by the official Korean Central News Agency; They were all sitting next to Kim.

The demonstration featured some of the country’s most advanced weapons, including the new Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which KCNA described as the “most powerful nuclear strategic weapon system.”

Footage showed thousands of people wearing colorful traditional clothes filling the streets of the North Korean capital for the late-night event, waving national flags and cheering as guns roared down the main streets.

KCNA added that among the prominent weapons, long-range strategic cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicle launch vehicles, and surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles were displayed one after another.

In his speech, Kim said that the country’s “invincible” army “always adds redoubled strength to our Party’s efforts to overcome difficulties and bring a bright future sooner.”

He gave an apparent salute to North Korean troops fighting alongside Moscow’s forces in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“The heroic fighting spirit and victory achieved by our revolutionary armed forces in the name of international justice on foreign battlefields demonstrated ideological and moral excellence,” he said, according to KCNA.

Seoul said about 600 North Korean soldiers fighting on Russia’s behalf were killed and thousands more were injured.

– Structural change –

KCNA said the parade showcased the isolated, nuclear-armed country’s “inexhaustible defense technology potential and the astonishing pace of development that the world can no longer ignore.”

The celebrations in Pyongyang came after Seoul said a meeting between North Korea and the United States “cannot be ruled out” during this year’s APEC summit in South Korea.

US President Donald Trump met with Kim three times during his first term, once saying the two were “in love”, but ultimately failed to secure a lasting agreement on North Korea’s nuclear program.

Since then, Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state.

Last month, Kim appeared alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin at an elaborate military parade in Beijing.

In a joint statement from Moscow and Pyongyang carried by KCNA earlier this week, Russia’s ruling party said it “expressed its firm support for the measures taken by North Korea to strengthen the country’s defense capabilities.”

“It is crucial to view this parade not as an isolated event but as the culmination of a deliberate, structural shift in regional geopolitics,” Seong-Hyon Lee, a visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Asia Center, told AFP.

“This is a stark warning that Seoul’s strengthened alliance with Washington will be met with a consolidated and powerful tripartite bloc at its door.”