Category: North Korea

By North Korea standards this was a pretty low key military parade which could signal that the Kim regime still thinks some kind of future deal could be reached:

North Korea held a midnight military parade to mark the 73rd anniversary of its founding, but leader Kim Jong-un did not deliver an address and no new strategic weapons were displayed, according to state media and South Korean officials.

The parade, which began at midnight Thursday, was watched closely by South Korea and others because the North could show off state-of-the-art weapons systems or leader Kim could make a speech about inter-Korean relations or nuclear talks with the United States.

But the parade at Pyongyang’s Kim Il-sung Square featured artillery-carrying tractors and military search dogs rather than intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and other strategic weapons. Also seen were fire engines looking like the same model produced by German carmaker Mercedes Benz.

Yonhap

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Nobody does military parades as good as the North Koreans:

Nearly 10,000 troops have been observed at a major airfield in North Korea recently, a possible sign that the communist country is preparing for a military parade to mark major anniversaries, sources said Thursday. 

The troops and military vehicles have been spotted at the Mirim Parade Training Ground in the country’s capital city since a few days earlier, and the South Korean military is closely monitoring related activities, according to government sources.

The Mirim airfield has been a venue for the North to conduct rehearsals for military parades organized to mark important anniversaries, such as the establishment of its communist government that falls on Sept. 9 and the Oct. 10 founding anniversary of the ruling Worker’s Party.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I have figured that there is probably back channel talks going on and the firing up of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor to me is an indication of the Kim regime playing one of their cards. They can negotiate to shutdown the reactor and give the U.S. & the ROK a “win” in any agreement knowing full well they can just turn back on in the future at a time of their choosing:

The U.N. nuclear watchdog has detected “deeply troubling” indications that a key nuclear reactor at North Korea’s main Yongbyon complex has been in operation since July, including the release of cooling water, an annual report showed Monday.

Submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors on Friday, the report covered new developments of the five megawatt reactor, from which the North obtained spent fuel rods to extract plutonium — a fissile material used for a bomb — in the past.

The report based on satellite imagery and other sources came as Seoul and Washington push to resume dialogue with the North, following its furious reactions to the allies’ recently concluded annual military exercises.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the North Koreans are continuing to bide their time:

U.S. and South Korean forces completed a joint training exercise with little apparent notice from North Korea, which had complained the drills were a provocation, a Defense Ministry official said Friday.

The two allies on Thursday concluded their Combined Command Post Training, a computer-simulated military exercise. A four-day preliminary crisis management session was also conducted prior to the drills.

“South Korea and the U.S. ended the [command-post exercise] for the second half of this year after achieving training goals,” a South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official told Stars and Stripes on the customary condition of anonymity Friday.

The official said the two countries “successfully” finalized the training “while … in difficult overall conditions, such as the COVID-19 situation.”

Despite Pyongyang frequently railing against such joint drills, “there has been no unusual activity from North Korea during the training,” the JCS official added.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

North Korea may show how upset they are with ROK and US service members playing computer simulated war-games together by firing a missile:

North Korea had declared a no-sail zone for ships off the east coast earlier this week, sources said Thursday, indicating that it had plans to launch missiles amid an ongoing combined exercise between South Korea and the United States.

The navigational warning was issued for Sunday through Monday for northeastern regions in the East Sea, according to the military sources. Such an advisory is usually issued ahead of missile launches or other weapons tests to warn vessels to stay clear of certain areas expected to be affected.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.