Jan15,2021: North Korea displayed what appeared to be a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) at a parade on Thursday night, state media reported, marking the end of a political congress at which leader Kim Jong Un admitted severe failings but pledged to boost the country’s military might.
Clad in a black leather coat, gloves and fur hat, Kim smiled and waved as he watched the parade in a flood-lit Kim Il Sung Square.
“The world’s most powerful weapon, submarine-launch ballistic missiles, entered the square one after another, powerfully demonstrating the might of the revolutionary armed forces,” state news agency KCNA reported.
Photos released by state media showed the SLBM was labelled Pukguksong-5, potentially marking an upgrade over the Pukguksong-4 that was unveiled at a larger military parade in October.
“The new missile definitely looks longer,” Michael Duitsman, a researcher at the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), said on Twitter.
Ankit Panda, a senior fellow in the nuclear policy programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said the parade also showcased “a new previously unseen short-range ballistic missile”.
State news agency footage showed Kim Jong Un watching the parade of soldiers and weaponry in Pyongyang. It was the second large-scale military parade since October [KCNA via Reuters]
Rockets with a “powerful striking capability for thoroughly annihilating enemies in a pre-emptive way outside the territory”, according to KCNA, were also on display.
The phrasing suggests the weapons have a range that extends beyond the Korean peninsula and could at least reach Japan.
Unlike October, Thursday’s parade did not showcase North Korea’s largest intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which are believed to be able to deliver a nuclear warhead to anywhere in the United States.
The parade in itself was not intended to be a provocation but was a worrying sign of Pyongyang’s priorities, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
