Parade in Pyongyang a step back from brink, say analysts in China
North Korea shows off missiles but refrains from testing them or nuclear arsenal, in what is seen as bid to cool tensions with the US
North Korea refrained from conducting a nuclear test to mark a national celebration on Saturday, instead holding a military parade seen as a sign of defiance but also of restraint.
The move came amid high tensions with Washington, after US President Donald Trump threatened military action over Pyongyang’s nuclear programme and with two US aircraft carrier groupssent to the peninsula.
North Korea marked the 105th birth anniversary of its late founding father, Kim Il-sung, with the parade, which involved the display of a new type of submarine-launched missile.
“North Korea is now under immense pressure, especially from the US, and Pyongyang wanted to show a united front without making another nuclear test, a move deemed intolerable by the international community and that might trigger military conflict,” said Cui Zhiying, a Korean affairs specialist from Tongji University in Shanghai.
Xu Guangyu, a former general and a researcher at the Beijing-based China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, said the North’s choice of a missile display rather than a nuclear test showed that Pyongyang was not slackening in showcasing its military power or in “its capability to fight back when necessary”.