North Korea plans to double its nuclear arsenal
Accelerate the R&D and production of nuclear vehicles again
On the evening of October 10 local time, in the middle of the fall and late at night, a parade to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Labour Party was held in Kim Jong-un Square in Pyongyang, the capital of the country.
According to Xinhua news agency, on the evening of October 9 and 10, local time, the 80th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Korean Labour Party was held in Pyongyang. Political Bureau of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Prime Minister of the State Council Li Jing attended the celebration conference, and watched large group gymnastics, art and parades, etc. During the celebration, Li Jing also spoke with the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Sulin, the President of the Party of Russian Federation, and Deputy Chairman of the Federal Security Conference, Medvedev.
The parade is North Korea's first public parade since September 2023, and it is North Korea's eighth consecutive midnight parade since 2020.
At about 4 p.m. on October 11, the North Korean Central Television broadcasted a parade of news footage showing two intercontinental ballistic missile launchers of the "Mars Kanon 20" crossing the square. This was the first public appearance of the new type of strategic nuclear carrier known as the "Big Killer". In addition, the "Overseas Combat Forces" that had fought on the Russian Kursk front, also "goed to the presidium with a wind".
Analysts have pointed out that as the "five-year plan" proposed by the eighth Congress of the Labour Party of the DPRK is about to expire, North Korea announced its new type of nuclear weapons by parade, both indicating that the established goal of "duplicating the nuclear arsenal" will be accomplished smoothly, and also in response to Kim Jong Un's recent statements about "North Korea will never give up nuclear weapons".
Light "nuclear" at night
As before,This North Korean parade was first reviewed, followed by the segmentation, and finally the weapons display section.
Divided links, from the anti-Japanese guerrilla merit force with the "portrait of the old warrior of the high-engine resistance to the Japanese revolution" to the British model force during the Korean War, to the one-line army group stationed on the southern front to deter Korea; and then, "to defend the honour and dignity of the motherland, bravely fight to establish legendary military merit, create the great new history of the Korean People's Army, fully show the North Korean people's bones of the spread of overseas combat forces" high-profile appearance.
The video shows that the overseas combat troops are flying the flags of Russia and North Korea. When the team passed the rostrum, Kim Jong-un saluted the team, and Medvedev, chairman of the United Russia Party, smiled on the rostrum. During his visit to the DPRK, Medvedev said that "the Korean people and soldiers of the Korean People's Army have made great achievements in the Kursk Oblast liberation campaign. It will always remain in the hearts of the Russian people and will be recorded in Russian history as a precious part".
In his pre-military speech, Kim also expressed his “warming encouragement and greetings to all the generals, officers, and soldiers of the overseas combat forces that have reliably executed the Party’s and the motherland’s orders.”
From the anti-Japanese guerrilla to the overseas operational forces, the “complete narrative” of the divisional faction recalls what Kim Jong-un said in his parade speech of “the whole history of celebrating himself (the Labour Party), and the day before he emphasized in particular at the congress celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Labour Party: “Our party has never made a mistake or mistake on the route in its 80 years.”
After the parade ended, the weapons display session led by the North Korean "Tianma-20" main battle tank team began. In accordance with usual practice, North Korea's "strategic weapon" has always appeared at the end of this link.
From 2020 to 2022, the "Mars Kanon-17" missile launch vehicle team four times "pressed" in the North Korean parade, each with four vehicles.In February 2023, North Korea demonstrated more than 10 "Mars Kanon-17" missile launches at a time in the parade, and with another model unknown tactical nuclear weapons team "pressed" the "axis", attracted international attention.
This time, the intercontinental ballistic missile squadron “Mars Kanon 20” was responsible for “pressing the axis” and the DPRK agency wrote in a statement that when the “most powerful nuclear strategic weapons system” squadron entered the square, “the audience’s cheers reached a peak.”
A newsreel broadcast by North Korea's Central Television showed that as the "Mars Gun-20" launch vehicle entered the stadium, fireworks bloomed on the bank of the Datong River. The audience cheered and the Korean People's Army generals on the rostrum collectively saluted the launch vehicle. The news clip also specifically captured the scene of foreign guests watching the ceremony raising their mobile phones to take pictures of the launch vehicle.
In terms of appearance, the "Mars Kanon 20" is not obviously different from the current main strategic nuclear carrier "Mars Kanon 17" of North Korea, both of which use 11 rounds of launchers carried. However, this number appears in the parade's launchers numbers are 691 and 692, while the previous 11 rounds of launchers "common guests", which appeared several times in the parade, is the 321 launchers awarded the title of merit by Kim Jong-un.
The launch of the "Mars Kanon 20" missile showed North Korea's "nuclear arsenal multiplication" plan, which again accelerated the development and production of nuclear carriers. At the end of October 2024, North Korea first tested the "Mars Kanon 19". On September 1, this year, when Kim Jong-un went to the Institute of Chemical Materials and Comprehensive Research of the General Administration to inspect the high-power solid-fuel missile engine, the official report only first mentioned the plan for the next generation of missiles. Only a month later, "Mars Kanon 20" completed the "first show".
It is worth noting that, unlike the "Hwasong-17", which uses liquid fuel propulsion, the "Hwasong-18" to "Hwasong-20" all use new solid fuel engines that are constantly being developed and upgraded. Reports in September this year revealed that the new engine used by the "Mars Cannon-20" has undergone eight ground ignition tests in the past two years, verifying its reliability.
Solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles have a shorter launch cycle and stronger survivability than liquid-fuel missiles. The major military scientific research achievements announced by North Korea since 2023, such as solid fuel rockets, new launch vehicles, and two different underwater launch/attack platforms, the "Kim Junyu Hero" and the "Tsunami", have all demonstrated North Korea's nuclear strike capabilities. More diverse, more covert, and more agile. External analysts believe that their goals are to ensure that the US military can maintain its nuclear counterattack capability after the so-called "one strike" and achieve "nuclear deterrence" in the true sense.
Demonstration of Comprehensive Nuclear Strike Capacity
In addition to the high-end "first show" "Mars Kanon-20" intercontinental ballistic missile, in recent years, North Korea has also vigorously developed a new type of solid-fuel engine in the medium-range missile field, and tested new weapons, among which "represented" the "Mars-11A" new type of high-speed hypersonic missile, this show also appeared in the parade.
Also attracting attention from the outside world are the 600mm multiple rocket launchers,"the unique North Korean cutting-edge weapon in the world." The video shows that a team of small drone launch vehicles in an open state also appeared at the military parade site. Each vehicle can carry dozens of small drones.
However, most of these weapons have appeared at the “Defense Development 2025” weapons exhibition, which just opened this month, or have been publicly earlier.
It is also worth noting that many of the equipment appearing at this military parade has been incorporated into North Korea's new "National Comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Management System." In May this year, Kim Jong-un inspected a joint exercise of the 600mm multiple rocket launcher and missile unit, aiming to familiarize various systems with this comprehensive strike system. At that time, Kim Jong-un also proposed to "further improve the combat credibility of tactical nuclear weapons systems and continuously compound the important task of expanding their application space."
However, it remains to be seen what the specific performance of North Korea's important strategic and tactical nuclear weapons unveiled at the military parade will be. Before 2020, North Korea's large-scale military parades were usually held during the day, but since 2020, they have been held late at night, usually starting or ending at 12 midnight. Before the start of this military parade, some Korean and American media speculated that North Korea might change the parade time due to the weather forecast of heavy rain on the evening of 10th, but the final military parade was still held at night.
Xi Jinping, who served as the secretary of Qingdao's clergy during the Moon's administration, said in an interview with the Korean media "Kingdao News" that he had proposed that he could hold a military parade late at night in 2018 when he exchanged with the then-Korean three-pylon orchestra leader, Hu Jintao.
Zhao Jin said that the lighting effect of the night parade can make the scene more animated, and can "show what you want to show up a bit brighter, darken the part that you don't want to show up a bit". also other South American analysts pointed out that after North Korea's night parade, it is difficult to watch carefully the newly disclosed weapons equipment at the parade.
In addition to the 10th evening parade, between October 9 and 10, North Korea also held congresses and art shows celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Labour Party. Relevant news footage showed that in the art shows, actors in military costumes performed programs such as "Breast Stones". This is also the highest standard multilateral diplomatic activity conducted by North Korea since the launch of the new strategy of "active diplomacy" in 2023.
Kim Jong-un's daughter had accompanied her father to military parades many times before, but this time it did not appear on North Korean Central Television. However, in programs related to the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers 'Party of Korea on October 9 and 10, North Korea's Central Television repeatedly broadcast images of Kim Jong Un and his daughter inspecting military activities.
The Journalist:Cao Ran (caoran@chinanews.com.cn)
Edited by:徐方清
Published by: SHOW