North Korea Talks Tough on Big Anniversary

He concluded that “regardless of whether ballistic missiles are present or not, (it) will be one of the largest in North Korea’s history”.

An expert at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis, a security think tank in Seoul, Jin Moo Kim, said North Korea revealed a new 300-millimeter rocket launcher.

His heirs, son Kim Jong Illinois and grandson Kim Jong Un, have held the central role in the party, although their official titles have all differed. Since North Korea carried out its third nuclear test in February 2013, China has nearly without exception mentioned “peace and stability on the Korean peninsula” before “denuclearization of the Korean peninsula”, leading to speculation that China put a higher priority on resolving the issue of North Korea nuclear weapons than on regime change in North Korea.

State Television News had been running pictures this morning of North Korea’s Leader Kim Jong-Un meeting a delegation from the Chinese government.

The parade could hold a few surprises for analysts overseas who were watching its display of weaponry very closely, particularly North Korea’s growing fleet of drone aircraft and long-range missiles. “It would be a loss of face for Beijing if Kim launched [a satellite or rocket] during South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s U.S. visit later this week”. Kim is reported to have told Liu that North Korea “needs a peaceful and stable external environment as it is striving to develop the economy and improve people’s livelihood”.

A convoy of North Korea’s military vehicles is seen in Pyongyang, …

“Our military’s invincible sprit causes anxiety and fear to our enemies”, said Kim, officially first secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party and chairman of the party’s Central Military Commission.

The spectacle promised to be the most elaborate since Kim assumed power after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in late 2011, and the satellite imagery suggested the military parade could be the country’s biggest ever.

As night fell after the parade – a tribute to the ruling party that has served at the whim of three generations of the Kim dynasty – the skies of Pyongyang were lit up with a fireworks display over the banks of the Taedong River.

China had sent one of its top officials, politburo standing committee member Liu Yunshan, to the parade, and when Kim saluted the crowds at the end, he did so with Liu – their hands raised and joined together.

The parade follows an announcement by a high-ranking US military official last week who said that the USA government believes that there is the capacity in North Korea to strike the mainland USA with a nuclear weapon.

China is North Korea’s chief ally and its main trading partner, although ties have been strained over the North’s nuclear program.

Yet, noticeably absent from the speech was North Korea’s mantra of “simultaneously pursuing nuclear weapons and economic development”. Yet, the Xinhua report has Kim more or less acquiescing to China’s carrot-and-stick approach, saying that Pyongyang is willing to make efforts to improve inter-Korean relations.