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North Korea holds 70th anniversary parade, without ICBMs
PYONGYANG, Sept 9, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Thousands of North Korean troops
followed by artillery and tanks paraded through Pyongyang Sunday as the
nuclear-armed country celebrated its 70th birthday, but it refrained from
displaying the intercontinental ballistic missiles that have seen it hit with
sanctions.
Instead leader Kim Jong Un showed off his friendship with China, raising
the hand of President Xi Jinping’s envoy as they saluted the crowd together
afterwards.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as the North is
officially known, was proclaimed on September 9, 1948, three years after
Moscow and Washington divided the peninsula between them in the closing days
of the Second World War.
Such set-piece dates are a mainstay of the North’s political calendar, and
have for years been opportunities to demonstrate progress in its quest for a
missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the United States.
But too militaristic a display this time might have risked upsetting the
recent diplomatic dalliance on the peninsula, after Kim’s Singapore meeting
with US President Donald Trump in June and his third summit with the South’s
President Moon Jae-in due in Pyongyang later this month.
After a 21-gun salute, dozens of infantry units marched through Kim Il Sung
Square, some in night-vision goggles or wielding rocket-propelled grenade
launchers, as the current leader — the founder’s grandson — looked on from
a rostrum.
Li Zhanshu, one of the seven members of the Chinese Communist party’s
Politburo Standing Committee, the country’s most powerful body, sat next to
him, the two of them occasionally exchanging comments.
Armoured personnel carriers, multiple rocket launchers and tanks followed,
with biplanes flying overhead in a ’70’ formation.
At one point jets trailing red, white and blue smoke — the colours of the
North Korean flag — roared above the Juche Tower, the stone monument to Kim
Il Sung’s political philosophy.
Finally came the missiles, the traditional climax of the parades. But the
only ones on show were short-range battlefield devices, the Kumsong-3 anti-
ship cruise missile, and the Pongae-5 surface-to-air weapon.
There was no sign of the Hwasong-14 and -15 rockets that can reach the
mainland United States and changed the strategic balance when they were first
tested last year.
“It looks like the North Koreans really tried to tone down the military
nature of this,” said Chad O’Carroll, managing director of Korea Risk Group.
Any display of longer-range missiles would have cast doubt on North Korea’s
commitment to denuclearisation, he added.
– ‘Long live! –
Pyongyang has not publicly stated a willingness to give up the weapons it
has spent decades developing at huge political and financial cost, but it has
been on a diplomatic charm offensive for months.
In April, Kim declared that the North’s nuclear programme had been
successfully completed and “socialist economic construction” was the new
strategic priority.
In a speech Sunday, ceremonial president Kim Yong Nam lauded the country
and its army as “the strongest in the world”, but did not mention nuclear
weapons.
And immediately after the parade thousands of citizens rallied through the
square, alongside floats displaying economic themes and calls for Korean
reunification — the peninsula has remained split since the 1950-53 Korean
War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
Thousands of accompanying citizens waved bouquets and flags, chanting “Long
live” to the leader.
– Honoured guest –
Diplomatic invitations for the anniversary went out around the world, but
the only head of state who attended was Mauritanian president Mohamed Ould
Abdel Aziz — although AFP spotted French actor Gerard Depardieu seated in a
section below the main tribune.
Afterwards Kim and Li saluted the cheering crowd, the North Korean raising
his guest’s hand into the air.
Beijing is its neighbour’s key diplomatic protector and trade partner, and
after years in the deep freeze over the North’s weapons ambitions ties have
warmed rapidly this year, with Kim visiting China three times to meet
President Xi Jinping.
Speculation that Xi might reciprocate for the anniversary did not come to
pass — Hu Jintao remains the last Chinese president to visit in 2005 — but
O’Carroll said Pyongyang appeared to want to promote its friendship with
Beijing.
“China is still a very important player and its presence here with such a
high level delegation is intended in some way to remind the US of that,” he
said.
Washington is seeking the “final, fully verified denuclearisation of North
Korea”, while Pyongyang has only publicly affirmed its commitment to working
towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, a euphemism open to
interpretation on both sides.
The process has become bogged down in recent weeks, with the North
demanding a formal declaration that the Korean War is over, and the South’s
Moon caught between his neighbour and his ally.
“Apparently Kim Jong Un thought that now was not time to unnecessarily
provoke Trump,” said Kim Yong-hyun, professor of North Korean studies at
Dongguk University in Seoul.
But some things do not change.
Many of the tanks and other vehicles at the parade still bore a slogan on
the front: “Destroy the US imperialist aggressors, the sworn enemy of the
DPRK people!”
BSS/AFP/MRI/1324 hrs