North Korea stages military parade in Pyongyang on eve of South’s Winter Olympics
Unlike last parade in April 2017, state television did not show it live. But a Seoul government source confirmed it was held at Kim Il-sung square in Pyongyang
North Korea staged a military parade in Pyongyang on Thursday, Seoul said, in a show of strength just a day before the Winter Olympics open in the South.
The nuclear-armed North is on an Olympics-linked publicity drive – sending a troupe of performers, hundreds of female cheerleaders, and the sister of leader Kim Jong-un to the South.
In recent days, thousands of troops and hundreds of armoured vehicles have been seen rehearsing for the display in the capital.
Unlike the North’s last parade in April 2017 its state television did not show it live. But a Seoul government source told AFP: “We have learned that North Korea staged a military parade at Kim Il-sung square in Pyongyang.”
Analysts say that with the dual approach, the North is looking to normalise its status as a “de facto nuclear state”, and could be trying to weaken sanctions against it or drive a wedge between the South and its ally the US.
North Korea is under multiple sets of UN Security Council sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, which have seen it develop rockets capable of reaching the US mainland.