Kim Jong-un – flanked by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese Politburo member Li Hongzhong – hosted a lavish parade in the heart of North Korea on Thursday featuring the communist rogue state’s latest international continental ballistic missile (ICBM) and armed drone models.
Russia and China hold permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council, which has sanctioned North Korea’s illegal development of the weapons Kim displayed on Thursday. Shoigu and Li attending the parade sent the international community the message that both Russia and China would use their veto powers to incapacitate the Security Council if it attempts to enforce the international laws Pyongyang routinely violates.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, North Korean communist dictator Kim Jong-un, and Chinese Politburo member Li Hongzhong at a parade in Pyongyang on July 27, 2023 (Rodong Sinmun/government of North Korea).
The dignitaries were the first of their political authority to visit North Korea since 2019, and Shoigu became the first high-ranking foreign official to meet with Kim Jong-un personally on Wednesday since former President Donald Trump met with Kim in 2019.
The Chinese and Russian officials also each handed personal letters to Kim from their leaders, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, North Korean media revealed this week.
Kim’s parade was meant to mark the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the active hostilities in the Korean War. The agreement created the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas and prevents both sides from attempting to invade each other. As neither side surrendered and no peace treaty was signed, the Korean War is still technically ongoing and no side has won or lost it.
Despite this, the communist Kim cult refers to the anniversary of the armistice as “Victory Day,” claiming to have given the United States, which fought alongside free South Korea, the worst military defeat of its history. The North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun celebrated in its summary of the parade on Thursday night that the communists allegedly “inflicted the most miserable defeat upon the U.S. imperialists in the history of war.”
Kim Jong-un has dramatically escalated violent rhetoric against Seoul and Washington this year, beginning with his command to the military in December that it should ensure an “exponential increase of the country’s nuclear arsenal” in 2023. North Korean officials have since repeatedly threatened to attack America, most recently threatening a nuclear bombing in response to the presence of the USS Kentucky, a nuclear-powered submarine, in the South Korean port city of Busan.
North Korea typically uses its military parades to show off its illegal nuclear assets. On Thursday, the most high-profile item allegedly on display was the Hwasong-18, a new model ICBM that North Korea debuted this month. State media claims the Hwasong-18 is a solid-fuel model, making it faster to prepare for launch than liquid-fuel models; the U.N. warned following an allegedly successful test of the missile this month that it appears capable of reaching “most points on Earth.”
“The excitement and great joy of the spectators reached its height when the Second Red Flag Company of the General Missile Bureau entered the square with the ICBM Hwasongpho-18, the most powerful core mainstay of the strategic force of the DPRK,” Rodong Sinmun narrated, “which is fully deterring and overwhelmingly countering the hostile forces’ various nuclear war threats and provocative acts of aggression against the DPRK and reliably defending the security of the DPRK.”
North Korea holds parade to mark 70th anniversary of Korean War armistice (“Victory Day”), July 27, 2023. (Rodong Sinmun/government of North Korea)
Also on display were models of the Hwasong-17, which preceded the latest model and which North Korea also claims runs on solid fuel. The state newspaper claimed the Hwasong-17, “a treasured sword for justice and peace,” was “capable of putting an end to the imperialist tyranny on the earth and saving the future of mankind.”
The state newspaper – which also published dozens of photos of the parade – highlighted the presence of armed drones, as well.
“The strategic reconnaissance drone and the multi-purpose attack drone which were newly developed and produced and are to be furnished for the KPA [Korean People’s Army] air force made circular flights in the sky above the square for the military parade,” it detailed, “to add to the joy of the people who have celebrated July 27 representing victory and glory of Juche Korea generation after generation.”
North Korea holds parade to mark 70th anniversary of Korean War armistice (“Victory Day”), July 27, 2023. (Rodong Sinmun/government of North Korea)
A weapon displayed in Pyongyang, North Korea, on July 27, 2023. (Rodong Sinmun/government of North Korea)
“Juche” is the state philosophy of the Kim family cult, a word that roughly translates to “self-reliance.”
The South Korean newspaper JoongAng Daily noted in its analysis of the parade that the armed drones “closely resemble U.S. unmanned surveillance aircraft Global Hawk.” It also identified in photos of the parade underwater drone models.
Kim Jong-un did not appear to deliver remarks at the parade, as covered by state media; he left the honor to his defense minister, Kang Sun Nam.
Kang used the opportunity to declare before the approving eyes of senior Russian and Chinese officials that North Korea was capable of destroying the entirety of the United States and South Korea.
“We solemnly declare that if they attempt military confrontation as now, the exercise of our state’s armed forces will go beyond the scope of the right to defence for the United States of America and the ‘ROK’ [Republic of Korea]’,” Kang said, according to state media coverage. “The U.S. imperialists have no room of choice of survival in case they use nuclear weapons against the DPRK.”
Kang also took the opportunity to personally condemn South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative who has used his tenure in office to bring his country closer to Washington and has openly discussed Seoul potentially creating its own nuclear weapons program.
“[T]he U.S. imperialist warmongers and the group of traitor Yoon Suk Yeol continue to play dangerous war games that may incite an unprecedented nuclear war in the Korean peninsula,” Kang claimed, “with the use of their military muscle against the DPRK while advocating their megalomaniacal ‘logic of strength’ even at this moment.”
Prior to the parade on Thursday, the U.S. State Department condemned Russia for enabling North Korea’s belligerent rhetoric, taking a much gentler tone with China.
“The DPRK’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program, they pose a grave threat to international peace and security and stand in blatant violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
He continued:
Russia’s support for these unlawful weapons programs by blocking additional action at the UN Security Council, by participating in events in Pyongyang celebrating these weapons, by failing to crack down on DPRK sanction evasion activities – all of this just highlights how detrimental it has become to preserving international peace and security.
Patel added, “we believe that Beijing has influence over Pyongyang, and we hope that it will use that influence to encourage Pyongyang to return to dialogue and refrain from destabilizing activities.”