Rocket man Kim Jong-un shows off North Korea’s most powerful nuclear-capable missiles to Russia and China during extravagant military parade in Pyongyang
- Kim Jong-un joined by Russian and Chinese delegates to display new missiles
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was joined by senior delegates from Russia and China as he showcased his most powerful nuclear-capable missiles at a military parade.
The weaponry was watched by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese ruling party official Li Hongzhong from a balcony overlooking Kim Il-sung Square, named after Kim’s grandfather, the founder of the North Korea.
Edited television footage showed streets and stands packed with tens of thousands of spectators, who roared in approval as waves of goose-stepping soldiers, tanks and intercontinental ballistic missiles on launch trucks filled the road .
The Pyongyang parade began with warm-up events that featured ceremonial flights of newly developed surveillance and attack drones.
Rocket man: Kim Jong-un flanked by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (left) and Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Li Hongzhong (right)
A new model of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the solid-fueled Hwasong-18, parades in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang
Pact: Kim and Shoigu mark 70 years since the Korean War armistice
Boy wonder: A very young Kim dominates the images of older soldiers
Kim’s biggest weapons were saved for last, when his troops deployed new ICBMs that have been flight-tested in recent months and demonstrated ranges that can reach deep into the continental United States, the Hwasong-17 and Hwasong- 18.
The parade followed meetings between Kim and Shoigu that demonstrated North Korea’s support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This reinforced suspicions that the North was willing to supply arms to Russia. Vladimir Putin sent a message thanking Kim for “strongly supporting” his war efforts in Ukraine.
Putin said Moscow and Pyongyang were aligned as they opposed “the West in its policy of obstructing the establishment of a truly multipolar and just world order”.
Drone power: Unmanned surveillance and attack planes on display
Firepower: Crowds roared their approval as trucks carrying rockets rumbled
Numbers: camouflaged troops march through Pyongyang
Tank Power: Commanders salute as they pass the VIP stand
