Paramilitary group the Employee-Peasant Purple Guards – with 5.7 million members – featured prominently within the parade.
Kim Jong Un has marked the seventy fifth anniversary of the founding of North Korea with a parade of paramilitary forces and guarantees to deepen ties with China and Russia.
The North Korean chief attended the midnight parade on Friday in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Sq. which was additionally attended by a visiting Chinese language delegation and Russian diplomats, the nation’s state Korean Central Information Company (KCNA) reported on Saturday.
The occasion featured “paramilitary forces” from the capital, Pyongyang, state media mentioned, quite than troopers within the common military, and it didn’t seem to showcase the nation’s fearsome domestically produced weaponry together with intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Photographs in state media confirmed uniformed paramilitary brigades, together with some using tractors or in massive purple vehicles, as Kim, flanked by his younger daughter, appeared on smiling and clapping.
South Korea’s Yonhap Information Company famous that Kim didn’t ship a speech on the occasion and that the parade was largely led by the Employee-Peasant Purple Guards, a civil defence organisation that’s mentioned to have about 5.7 million members.
Kim met with a visiting Chinese language delegation led by Liu Guozhong, vice-premier of the State Council, the second such go to by high officers from Beijing in six weeks. Russian diplomats additionally attended the occasion, in addition to a Russian army song-and-dance ensemble which had arrived in Pyongyang to mark the event, KCNA reported.
KCNA mentioned Kim met with Liu and different Chinese language delegates forward of the parade, the place they exchanged views on “additional intensifying the multi-faceted coordination and cooperation” between the international locations.
In July, Kim invited delegations led by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese language Communist Social gathering Politburo member Li Hongzhong to an enormous army parade in Pyongyang, the place he rolled out his nation’s strongest weapons.
A day earlier than the parade, Kim took Shoigu on a tour of a home arms exhibition, which has added to suspicions that North Korea is keen to produce arms to Russia to assist in its struggle on Ukraine.
Moscow expanded its official presence in North Korea shortly earlier than the parade, with its Pyongyang embassy saying this week that it had been allowed to usher in 20 diplomatic and technical employees – the primary such rotation of personnel since 2019.
Russian President Vladimir Putin despatched Kim a message marking the anniversary, KCNA mentioned, by which he known as for the 2 international locations to “develop the bilateral ties in all respects”.
Kim is anticipated to journey to Russia this month to satisfy Putin to debate weapons provides to Moscow to assist its invasion of Ukraine.
In line with Chinese language state media, President Xi Jinping “prolonged congratulations in a name to Kim Jong Un” on the anniversary.
