North Korea has introduced a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile, described by state media as “the most powerful weapon in the world.”
Several of these missiles were displayed in a parade supervised by leader Kim Jong-un, reported state media.
The show of military force comes days before Joe Biden’s inauguration as president of the United States.
It also follows a rare political meeting in which Kim condemned the United States as his country’s “greatest enemy”.
Images released by North Korean state media showed at least four large missiles painted in black and white passing in front of a crowd waving flags.
Analysts noted that it was a weapon never seen before. “New Year, New Pukguksong,” tweeted North Korean expert Ankit Panda, using the North Korean name for his Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs).
Dressed in a wool coat leather and a fur hat, Kim is seen smiling and waving as he watches the parade in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square, which also included infantry troops, artillery and tanks.
“The most powerful weapon in the world, the submarine launch ballistic missile, entered the square one after another, powerfully demonstrating the power of the revolutionary armed forces,” said the Agency North Korea News Center.
What we know about North Korea’s huge new missile
In his speech at the end of a five-year congress of the ruling Workers’ Party last week, Kim had pledged to expand North Korea’s nuclear weapons and military potential , outlining a list of wanted weapons, including long-range ballistic missiles capable of being launched from land or sea and “super-large warheads.”
He also said that the United States was “the largest obstacle to our revolution and our greatest enemy… no matter who is in power, the true nature of its policy against North Korea will never change. ”
The presentation of the new missiles appears designed to send the incoming U.S. government a message about Pyongyang’s military might, experts say.
- What is known about the huge missile that North Korea unveiled during a military parade
“They would like us to notice that they are becoming more capable with bigger solid rockets, ”Panda tweeted.
For the past four years, Pyongyang has had an erratic relationship with the United States under the administration of President Donald Trump.
Kim and Trump engaged in mutual insults and war threats ahead of an unprecedented summit in Singapore in 2018 and declarations of love from the outgoing American leader.
Despite the Apparent improvement in relations, little concrete progress was made in the negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear program, and a second summit in Hanoi in 2019 failed after the United States rejected Pyongyang’s demands for sanctions relief.
Exercising military muscle from North Korea
Laura Bicker, BBC News Seoul correspondent
Kim Jong-un has had a very busy week. At this rare party congress at the beginning of a new year he earned a new title, pledged to build new nuclear weapons, and now showed the world some new missiles.
Secretary-General, title awarded posthumously to his father by whom Kim is now known, he had been rather quiet in 2020 and it appeared very rarely in the state media.
But 2021 looks quite different. The party congress has offered it a great daily domestic platform, even if it is not receiving the international attention it may have received due to events in the United States and the global pandemic.
The vehicles that paraded include a new submarine-launched ballistic missile and new short-range ballistic missiles.
This is a show of force: flexing the military muscle once again to show the people of North Korea that, at Despite the current bleak economic outlook, this impoverished country is capable of designing and building new strategic weapons.
It also offers a direct challenge to the new US government.
Korea del Norte appears to be willing to continue with its self-imposed isolation and be subject to strict economic sanctions, and the state has promised to continue building nuclear weapons in defiance of the international community.
During the transfer of power r, President Obama told Donald Trump that North Korea should be his top national security concern.
In the past four years, a combination of United States and UN sanctions, the So-called “maximum pressure” policies and three summits between Trump and Kim have done nothing to alleviate those concerns.
Kim Jong-un has shown the new US president this week that he faces the overwhelming prospect of finding new solutions to this problem that has dragged on for decades.
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