North Korea will rapidly accelerate the development of its nuclear arsenal, leader Kim Jong-un announced at a giant military parade in Pyongyang where its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles were paraded, state media reported on Tuesday.
Despite severe international sanctions, North Korea is stepping up its efforts to modernize its army.
Since the beginning of the year, it has tested prohibited weapons and analysts fear a possible resumption of its nuclear tests.
Dressed in a white military uniform, the North Korean leader attended a parade of tanks, rocket launchers and its largest intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) late Monday in Pyongyang.
Footage was broadcast on Tuesday, delayed, by the state channel KCTV.
This parade was organized as part of the 90th anniversary of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, whose founding date has been officially set at 1932, although the existence of North Korea is later.
“We will continue to take steps to strengthen and develop our nation’s nuclear capabilities at an accelerated pace,” said Kim Jong-un, according to remarks reported by the North Korean news agency KCNA.
“Nuclear weapons, a symbol of our national strength and at the center of our military power, must be enhanced in terms of quality and range,” he said.
The numerous diplomatic talks aimed at convincing the leader to give it up have stalled since the failure, in 2019, of a meeting between Kim Jong-un and then-US President Donald Trump.
A warning
Kim Jong-un warned on Monday that he could use his nuclear arsenal if his country’s “fundamental interests” were threatened.
If this type of weapon has above all a deterrent role, they “cannot be linked to this sole objective”, he said according to KCNA.
US and South Korean officials and analysts believe Pyongyang could soon resume nuclear weapons testing, which was halted in 2017.
The North Korean leader’s remarks could be aimed at South Korea’s new president-elect, conservative Yoon Suk-yeol, who will take office on May 10, analysts say. Mr. Yoon promised to take a tougher line in the face of provocations from the North.
“Interestingly, Mr. Kim is now talking more specifically about the purpose of his nuclear weapons,” according to Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
“Mr. Yoon has threatened to launch a preemptive strike on Pyongyang if necessary, and Mr. Kim appears to be saying indirectly that he may have to respond with nuclear means if Mr. Yoon does indeed go ahead.”
Cheong Seong-chang, a senior researcher at the private Sejong Institute, told AFP that Mr Kim may have sent a message while wearing his white uniform with the marshal’s star – South Korea’s highest military rank. North.
Huge Missiles
“It symbolizes his ultra-strong attitude towards the future Yoon Suk-yeol administration, which has identified the North as its enemy and said it is considering developing the capability to launch preemptive strikes.”
His speech “suggests that the threshold at which North Korea can use nuclear weapons can be further lowered”, he added.
Photos from the parade show huge black and white missiles landed on mobile launchers, while North Koreans in traditional dress wave flags and flowers in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang. According to KCNA, the most sophisticated weapons, including the Hwasong-17, were exhibited.
North Korea had announced on March 25 that it had launched the day before, for the first time, this “monster missile”, publishing photos and videos in which Kim Jong-un appears supervising this test, in a staging very studied.
Analysts, however, have noted inconsistencies in Pyongyang’s account.
US and South Korean intelligence concluded that it was actually the Hwasong-15, a less advanced ICBM already tested in 2017.
“Despite all the hype […]Monday’s North Korean military parade didn’t really show off a lot of new capabilities,” commented Chad O’Carroll of Seoul-based NK News.
“Photos suggest this was largely a repeat of the October 2020 spectacular parade” in which the Hwasong-17 was first displayed, he added in a tweet.