North Korean leader Kim brings daughter to parade, troops visit
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un brought his daughter to visit troops to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the country’s army as he lauded the “irresistible might” of his nuclear-armed military, state media said Wednesday.
The visit preceded a massive military parade that Kim presided over in the capital, Pyongyang, where troops rolled out the latest hardware of his fast-growing nuclear arsenal.
North Korean state media photos of the parade published Thursday showed Kim attended the event with his wife and young daughter. He was smiling and raising his hand from a balcony as thousands of troops lined up in a brightly illuminated Kim Il Sung Square, named after his state-founding grandfather.
Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, attends a military parade Wednesday to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea.
The parade Wednesday night came after weeks of preparations involving huge numbers of troops and civilians mobilized to glorify Kim’s rule and his relentless push to cement the North’s status as a nuclear power.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said the parade featured a variety of nuclear-capable weapons that fuel tensions with its neighbors and the United States, including tactical nuclear weapons targeting South Korea and ICBMs, which the agency described as crucial weapons supporting the North’s “power-to-power, all-out confrontation” against enemies.
Commercial satellite images of the parade released by Maxar Technologies Inc. showed huge, missile-carrying trucks passing the square’s main road as thousands of spectators watched.
Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies via AP
Missile launchers Wednesday at a parade on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea.
During the troops visit, Kim’s daughter, Kim Ju Ae, believed to be 9 or 10 years old, stood close to her father as he shook the hands of senior officials and then sat next to him at a table. Analysts say Kim’s decision to bring his daughter to public events tied to his military is to remind the world he has no intention to voluntarily surrender his nuclear weapons, which he apparently sees as the strongest guarantee of his survival and the extension of his family’s dynastic rule.
State media’s lofty description of Kim Ju Ae, who has been called “respected” and “beloved,” also inspired debate on whether she’s being primed as her father’s successor. She also attended a flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in November and has accompanied her father to a meeting with military scientists and an inspection of ballistic missiles.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday that Kim visited the lodging quarters of the Korean People’s Army’s general officers with his daughter. He later gave an encouraging speech to troops at a banquet, praising them for maintaining the “strongest army in the world” despite external difficulties.
The visit came a day after Kim presided over a meeting with his top military brass and called for an expansion of combat exercises aimed at sharpening war readiness, as he looks to escalate an already provocative run in weapons demonstrations in the face of deepening tensions with his neighbors and Washington.
Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, with his wife, Ri Sol Ju, center left, and daughter, center right, participate in a feast Tuesday to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army at an unspecified place in North Korea.
State media photos showed military officials applauding at the banquet, which appeared to be held at Pyongyang’s Yanggakdo Hotel. Kim and his daughter dressed alike in black suits and white dress shirts and held hands as they walked down a red carpet alongside Kim’s wife, Ri Sol Ju.
Kim during his speech said it was his “greatest honor” and delight to be the supreme commander of an army that is “fulfilling (the) call of the times and history as the strongest army in the world.”
State media reports on Kim’s visit to troops didn’t mention any comments made toward Washington or Seoul. But Pyongyang’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in an editorial Wednesday that the North’s military is prepared to unleash a “super strong strike of unimaginable might to wipe out the origins of provocations without a trace” when facing enemy threats.
The newspaper said North Korea’s ramped up weapons tests and combat exercises last year were successful demonstrations of “overwhelming military might” that supports the government’s escalatory nuclear doctrine.
Residents in Pyongyang marked the anniversary by visiting the city’s Mansu Hill to lay flowers and pay respect to the statues of their late leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, respectively the grandfather and father of their ruler, as soldiers lined up to salute.
Cha Song Ho, Associated Press
Pyongyang citizens visit Mansu Hill to pay respect Wednesday to the statues of their late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on the occasion of the 75th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Army in Pyongyang, North Korea.
North Korea is coming off a record-breaking year in weapons testing, and the dozens of missiles it fired in 2022 included potentially nuclear-capable systems designed to strike targets in South Korea and the U.S. mainland.
The intensified testing activity was punctuated by fiery statements threatening preemptive nuclear attacks against its neighbors and the United States in a broad range of scenarios where it may perceive its leadership as under threat.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry last week warned that the country is prepared to counter U.S. military moves with the “most overwhelming nuclear force” as it condemned U.S. plans to expand its joint exercise with South Korea and deploy more advanced military assets to the region.
North Korea is facing deepening economic isolation and food shortages, showing the costs of Kim’s nuclear ambitions are piling up.
