Hong Kong
CNN
—
North Korea displayed nearly a dozen advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles at a military parade Wednesday night. This is the largest display of what state media have described as Pyongyang’s “nuclear strike capability.”
The missile paraded through Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, with Chairman Kim Jong-un accompanied by his wife, watched by a girl believed to be his daughter.
Description: How much damage can North Korean weapons do?
The widely-anticipated event, marking the anniversary of the founding of the North Korean Armed Forces, saw Chairman Kim respond to what he claims to be threats from South Korea and the United States, with an “exponential increase” in the country’s nuclear arsenal. less than two months after requesting a .
Last year, North Korea tested more missiles than at any point in history, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could theoretically hit the continental United States.
That missile, the Hwas-17, was put on display Wednesday night, analysts said.
“It looks like 10 to 12 Hwasin-17 intercontinental ballistic missiles have appeared,” Ankit Panda, a nuclear policy expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said on social media.
Panda said that if each missile is equipped with multiple nuclear warheads, it could amount to enough to overwhelm US ballistic missile defenses.
The unprecedented display appears to show that Kim Jong Un is fulfilling a promise to equip the country with nuclear weapons that could threaten the United States.
Analysts said that besides Hwasong-17, North Korea has shown what could be a mockup of a new solid-fuel ICBM.
Solid-fuel rockets are more stable than liquid-fuel rockets like Hwasong-17. This means that solid-fueled ICBMs are easier to travel and faster to fire than liquid-fueled ICBMs.
North Korea announced in December that it had successfully tested a solid-fuel rocket motor.
But the potential for solid-fuel missiles on the parade does not mean they are viable. North Korea is not believed to have flight-tested a solid-fuel missile and experts say it faces many technical hurdles before deploying a solid-fuel missile.
North Korean state media said that besides ICBMs, the parade included tactical and long-range cruise missiles.
The Kim regime is using military parades to boost domestic support for its military plans and to send signals to the United States, South Korea and others. But North Korea’s missile buildup violates UN sanctions and is absorbing resources that could be used elsewhere.
“Kim Jong Un speaks for himself about North Korea’s growing tactical and long-range missile force,” said Rafe-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “The regime has staked its legitimacy on nuclear weapons at the expense of diplomacy and the economy.”
Easley and other analysts say the next step in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is an underground test of an actual nuclear weapon, which could take place at any moment.
Wednesday night’s parade followed the previous night’s extravagant banquet, with Kim Jong-un spotlighting a girl believed to be his daughter Joo-ae.
Kim Jong-un’s daughter on display at a lavish event.Here’s what this means
Photos released by state media show a girl walking next to Kim and her mother as they enter a banquet hall as military officers applaud.
At the banquet, the girl sat in the center of the lead table between Kim and her mother.
In a country where the Kim family and military are all powerful, the presence of a girl at such an important event sends a clear signal, Easley, a professor at Ewha University, said.
“By showing off his wife and daughter, Kim Jong Un wants observers at home and abroad to see the irreversible link between his family’s dynasty and the North Korean military,” he said. said.
