In Kim Il Sung square with foreign guests
(ANSA-AFP) – SEOUL, OCTOBER 11 – North Korea displayed its “most powerful” intercontinental ballistic missile during the parade. The event took place as leader Kim Jong Un feels emboldened by the war in Ukraine, winning crucial support from Russia after sending thousands of North Korean soldiers to fight alongside Moscow’s forces.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian Security Council and close associate of President Vladimir Putin, attended the parade together with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang and Vietnamese leader To Lam, all sitting near Kim, according to images released by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The show showcased some of the country’s most advanced weapons, including the new Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which the KCNA described as its “most powerful strategic nuclear weapons system”. Among the weapons on display, long-range strategic cruise missiles, drone launch vehicles and surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles were paraded one after another, the KCNA added. The country’s “invincible” army “has always doubled the strength of our Party’s efforts to overcome difficulties and anticipate a bright future,” Kim said in a speech. He apparently made a nod to North Korean troops fighting alongside Moscow’s forces in Russia’s war against Ukraine. “The heroic fighting spirit demonstrated and the victory achieved by our revolutionary armed forces on foreign battlefields for international justice… demonstrated ideological and spiritual perfection,” he said. (ANSA-AFP).
