North Korean chief Kim Jong Un promised to strengthen his nation’s nuclear weapons program on Wednesday, earlier than presiding over a nighttime military parade, accompanied by his daughter.
About 14,000 troops marched by Kim Il Sung Square within the capital of Pyongyang, state media mentioned. Columns of troopers had been seen goose-stepping beneath floodlights with fighter jets roaring overhead.
Kim’s teenage daughter, broadly believed to be named Ju Ae, once more appeared prominently on the parade beside her father. But regardless of hypothesis in South Korea about her potential grooming as a successor, no new official titles had been introduced because the once-in-five-years ruling occasion congress wrapped.
In his closing remarks on the congress, Kim doubled down on increasing the nation’s nuclear arsenal. He referred to as it the occasion’s “firm will” to strengthen nationwide nuclear energy and improve each the variety of weapons and the means to deploy them.
But at his parade, most military {hardware} was conspicuously absent. No procession of tanks, no towering intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), no hypersonic glide automobiles, no transporter-erector-launchers rumbling previous the cameras.
The restraint is noteworthy as a result of the Kim regime usually makes use of parades to showcase its most menacing weapons, and state propaganda has been leaning into weapons imagery lately.
Just final week, state media aired footage of Kim appearing to take the wheel of a 600mm a number of rocket launcher – a system North Korea has touted as “nuclear-capable” – with rows of dozens of launch automobiles lined up in hanging formation. And solely 4 months in the past, North Korea staged a large rain-soaked military parade marking the ruling occasion’s eightieth anniversary, showcasing what state media referred to as its strongest ICBM and different new strategic techniques.
North Korea’s Ninth Workers’ Party Congress, a largely rubber-stamp political gathering of the nation’s elite, additionally introduced personnel adjustments on the high.
Kim’s highly effective sister, Kim Yo Jong, was promoted to director of a celebration division after years in a deputy function, solidifying her standing within the interior circle. Several senior occasion and military posts had been reshuffled, elevating youthful loyalists whereas unanimously “reelecting” Kim as normal secretary for one more five-year time period.
So why the scaled-back military show this time round? One sensible rationalization is timing. Parades are costly, logistically complicated, and infrequently used to unveil new and upgraded {hardware}. Showing the identical missiles so quickly after a significant anniversary occasion might blunt the influence of their look.
But the broader context suggests one thing extra deliberate. Pyongyang seems to be signaling self-discipline and political management whereas maintaining its strategic leverage in reserve.
Alongside the promise for extra nuclear weapons, Kim additionally reiterated plans for stronger ICBMs, submarine-launch capabilities, and developments involving drones and synthetic intelligence.
At the identical time, Kim left conditional room for talks with Washington, however solely on Pyongyang’s phrases. Prospects for improved relations, he mentioned, rely solely on the “US attitude,” implying that Washington would wish to settle for North Korea’s nuclear standing and abandon what the regime has lengthy described as a “hostile policy.”
The timing could also be intentional. US President Donald Trump is making ready for a go to to China from March 31 to April 2, a visit that might reshape regional diplomacy. Some North Korea watchers speculate {that a} Beijing go to might create a slim opening for a renewed Trump-Kim dialogue, whether or not straight or by Chinese mediation.
Notably, Trump made no point out of North Korea throughout his State of the Union address. It was a hanging omission given how regularly he referenced the nation throughout his first time period, significantly across the high-profile summit diplomacy with Kim.
Trump did acknowledge a 100-year-old Korean War veteran in the course of the speech Wednesday, presenting former fighter pilot Royce Williams with the Medal of Honor earlier than a bipartisan spherical of applause. The tribute underscored the enduring legacy of the struggle, at the same time as up to date tensions on the peninsula went unaddressed within the speech.
Pyongyang’s leverage appears very completely different from the summit period of Trump’s first time period, largely due to Kim’s deepening partnership with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Kim and Putin signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” settlement in June 2024 that features a mutual protection clause, cementing what either side painting as a de facto alliance. The relationship has grown extra consequential as North Korea’s function in Russia’s struggle in Ukraine has grow to be central to Pyongyang’s propaganda.
State media has repeatedly proven Kim honoring returning North Korean troopers who fought for Russia and consoling the households of these killed. The ceremonies are sometimes visibly emotional, with Kim portrayed as a benevolent father determine. Earlier this month, he awarded new apartments to a few of these households.
Against that backdrop, Wednesday’s parade being heavy on troops and lightweight on weapons may very well be intentionally calibrated for Kim’s home viewers. The emphasis this time round was on unity, loyalty and readiness, whereas maintaining probably the most provocative techniques off-camera.
The warning to adversaries nonetheless got here by. State media quoted Kim saying that any violation of the nation’s sovereignty would set off rapid retaliatory strikes. The acquainted risk landed because the US and South Korea introduced that their very own, probably toned-down, military drills will return to the calendar subsequent month.