Kim Jong Un’s remarks suggest he will continue provocative weapons tests in a pressure campaign to wrest concessions from the United States and its allies.
He repeated an earlier message that the North could pre-emptively use its nuclear weapons when threatened by attacks and called for his nuclear forces to be fully prepared to go"in motion at any time.”
One of the weapons showcased at the brightly illuminated Kim Il Sung Square, named after Kim’s late grandfather and state founder, was North Korea’s biggest and newest ICBM, the Hwasong-17. North Korea often commemorates key state anniversaries by mobilizing huge crowds to boost internal unity. Tuesday’s KCNA dispatch praised Kim for accomplishing “the historic great cause of completing the nuclear forces by making a long journey of patriotic devotion with a death-defying will” to make his people free of war.
Kim’s comments about the possible use of nuclear weapons and his decision to show up at the parade in a military coat, rather than his regular suit and tie, signals a tough approach toward South Korea’s incoming conservative government, which may take a harder line toward Pyongyang than current liberal President Moon Jae-in, according to analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the South’s Sejong Institute.
North Korea has conducted 13 rounds of weapons tests this year. There are also signs North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground that was last active in 2017, possibly in preparation for exploding a nuclear device.
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