Kim Jong Un Flaunts North Korea’s Newest Weapons

SEOUL—Flanked by Russia’s defense minister and a Chinese Politburo member, Kim Jong Un smiled as North Korean missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland rumbled through the streets of downtown Pyongyang.

The scene from a Thursday evening North Korean military parade reflected a new bravado from Kim, the 39-year-old dictator who has labeled his country a nuclear power. 

During similar celebrations in prior years, Pyongyang had toned down its displays of nuclear firepower when officials from Moscow and Beijing were present, or did so at the risk of upsetting its two allies who could vote for fresh sanctions at the United Nations Security Council.

But lately the three countries have rallied together—and around their shared grievances against the U.S. and its allies. North Korea has conducted dozens of illegal missile tests in recent years, though China and Russia have repeatedly blocked efforts to hold the Kim regime accountable.

“Now, there’s no such reticence,” said Ankit Panda, the Stanton senior fellow in the nuclear-policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Kim openly shows off North Korea’s growing capabilities with implicit assent from Moscow and Beijing.”

North Korea’s Thursday military parade celebrated the 70th anniversary of the cease-fire that brought an end to fighting in the 1950-1953 Korean War. The country showcased its newest intercontinental ballistic missiles—named the “Hwasong-17” and “Hwasong-18”—as well as new attack and spy drones.

As part of the festivities, Kim invited the first foreign delegations to North Korea since the pandemic, with the Russians led by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chinese headed by Politburo member Li Hongzhong. Kim, dressed in a silver tie and black suit, oversaw the parade seated next to Shoigu and Li. But the third-generation North Korean leader skipped his customary speech.

Instead, North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam rose to warn the country’s adversaries. “Now, the question is not if a nuclear war will occur on the Korean Peninsula, but rather who will ignite this nuclear war and when,” he said, according to a state media report published in Korean. 

Shoigu, in a meeting with Kim, discussed developing “strategic and tactical collaboration” with North Korea in the field of defense and security, Pyongyang’s state media said. Shoigu also praised North Korea’s “unwavering support” for Russia’s “special military operation,” which is how Moscow typically refers to its invasion of Ukraine. 

China has little incentive to cross North Korea now, as the U.S. increases its military presence in the region, while a collapse of the Kim regime would create instability right on China’s borders. But the two countries have often clashed. In 2017, Pyongyang accused Beijing of “dancing to the tune of the U.S.” when official Chinese media outlets voiced discontent over the North’s torrent of weapons tests.

North Korea is suffering through one of its worst food shortages in decades, with its economy bitten hard by sanctions and border restrictions that remain in place because of Covid-19 fears. The country’s weapons accomplishments are one of the few areas that Kim can tout with pride.

State media reports published on Friday stressed North Korea had bolstered its military capability following the fight against “imperialist war maniacs,” referring to the U.S. In recent months, the Kim regime has repeatedly lashed out against the U.S., South Korea and Japan over their improved military ties.

The presence of Russian and Chinese delegations at the military parade helps North Korea justify its weapons expansion, as the pair of allies provide the Kim regime with an economic lifeline and political backing, Pyongyang watchers say. 

In January 2021, Kim gave an unusually detailed weapons road map as part of a new five-year strategy. Roughly halfway in, North Korea has tested many of the new technologies and rolled them out for Thursday’s parade, such as its underwater drone and nuclear-capable short-range ballistic missiles. 

Two new drones were revealed for the first time on Wednesday at a weapons exhibition Kim and Shoigu visited. At the parade the next day, one of the new models was showcased during the procession of the country’s weaponry. North Korea hasn’t publicly named either drone yet, though they are nearly identical visually to the U.S.-made MQ-9 Reaper drone and the RQ-4 Global Hawk, weapons experts said.

Despite visual similarities, the North Korean drones still lack key technology such as sensors and avionic systems that are necessary for deployment, said Yang Uk, a military analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. “They want to appear as if they are on schedule to develop new weapons but we won’t know until the systems are tested,” Yang said. 

Kim’s five-year weapons strategy focuses on drones, tactical nuclear arms and other modern advances, as well as a push into cyber, said Kim Young-jun, who advises the South Korean government on national-security issues. That brings advantages because these areas are often less costly and more efficient than conventional military capabilities—all the more important now given North Korea’s economic struggles, he added.

“I am surprised by the pace of North Korean development—more rapid than I would have guessed,” said Bruce Bennett, senior defense analyst at Rand Corp., a think tank based in Santa Monica, Calif. “The North’s transparency is intended to support its objective of demonstrating superiority.”

Write to Dasl Yoon at [email protected] and Timothy W. Martin at [email protected]