North Korea: Kim Jong un unveils huge ‘submarine-launched ballistic missiles’ during military parade

Nuclear-armed North Korea unveiled a new submarine-launched ballistic missile at a military parade in Pyongyang, state media reported Friday, in a show of strength days before Joe Biden‘s inauguration as US president.

State media said Kim Jong Un took centre stage after the five-yearly congress of the ruling Workers’ Party, at which the North Korean leader decried the US as his country’s ‘foremost principal enemy’.  

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released photos of Kim wearing a black fur hat and leather trench coat, smiling widely and gesturing from a podium as thousands of troops and civilian spectators filled Kim Il Sung Square, named after his grandfather and North Korea’s founder.

The agency said spectators roared as troops rolled out the country’s most advanced strategic weapons, including submarine-launched ballistic missiles it described as the ‘world’s mightiest.’

Photos released by state media showed the parade ending with what appeared to be a new solid-fuel short-range ballistic missile – which are more mobile and more quickly deployed than liquid-fuelled versions.

The images revealed that the SLBM was labelled Pukguksong-5, potentially marking an upgrade over the Pukguksong-4 that was unveiled at a larger military parade in October. 

‘The world’s most powerful weapon, submarine-launch ballistic missile, entered the square one after another, powerfully demonstrating the might of the revolutionary armed forces,’ the KCNA news agency said. 

Thursday’s event did not showcase North Korea’s largest intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which are believed to be able to deliver a nuclear warhead to anywhere in the US.   

During the eight-day Workers’ Party congress, Kim vowed to bolster his nuclear and missile programme in a bid to send the incoming Biden administration a message of strength in a bid to extract concessions.  

The North Korean leader also revealed plans to salvage the economy amid US-led sanctions over his nuclear ambitions, pandemic-related border closures and natural disasters that wiped out crops.

The economic setbacks have left Kim nothing to show for his ambitious diplomacy with President Donald Trump, which derailed over disagreements in exchanging sanctions relief and the North’s denuclearisation steps, and pushed Kim to what is clearly the toughest moment of his nine-year rule.

Kim’s comments are likely intended to pressure Biden, who has previously called the North Korean leader a ‘thug’ and accused Trump of chasing spectacle rather than meaningful curbs on the North’s nuclear capabilities. 

The North Korean leader has not ruled out talks, but he said the fate of bilateral relations would depend on whether Washington DC abandons its hostile policy toward Pyongyang. 

Kim and Trump had a tumultuous relationship, engaging in mutual insults and threats of war before an extraordinary bromance featuring headline-grabbing summits and declarations of love.

But little substantive progress was made, with the process deadlocked after a February 2019 summit in Hanoi broke down over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return.  

The US is expected to return to more orthodox diplomatic approaches under Biden, such as insisting on extensive progress at working-level talks before any leaders’ summit can be considered.   

Pyongyang has poured vast resources into its weapons programmes, which have made rapid progress under Kim and which it says it needs to defend itself against a possible US invasion.

‘The majestic elite units and invincible iron-clad ranks of the Republic which will proudly pass Kim Il Sung Square represent our absolute power,’ North Korean defence minister Kim Jong Gwan said in a speech ahead of the Thursday evening parade, KCNA reported.

The display also included infantry troops, artillery, tanks, and a flypast with aircraft forming the number ‘8’ to commemorate the congress, it said.

But the North is carefully calibrating its messaging and neither the KCNA description nor the images included any intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), suggesting that the parade was on a smaller scale than the North’s previous such display in October.

At that time, it showed off a huge new ICBM on an 11-axle vehicle that analysts said was the largest road-mobile, liquid-fuelled missile in the world.

At the congress, Kim said the North had completed plans for a nuclear-powered submarine – something that would change the strategic balance if it was built and went into service. 

On Wednesday, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of Kim Jong Un and a member of the ruling party’s Central Committee, criticised South Korea’s military for saying it had detected signs of a parade in Pyongyang on Sunday.

North Korean officials have been meeting in Pyongyang for the first party congress since 2016.