North Korea stages huge military parade on its 70th anniversary, holds back on advanced missiles

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea stages huge military parade on its 70th anniversary, holds back on advanced missiles. </s> A parade designed to show off North Korea's military strength marked the country's 70th anniversary. Intercontinental ballistic missiles were missing from the display, according to reports. This comes after Korean leader Kim Jong-un's talks with President Trump. </s> SEOUL, South Korea — Columns of goose-stepping soldiers and artillery vehicles rolled through a main plaza in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, on Sunday, as the country celebrated the 70th anniversary of its founding with a large military parade notable for one conspicuous absence: its long-range ballistic missiles.

The North’s intercontinental ballistic missiles, including its Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15, have been a main feature of its recent military parades, including one in February, and they have provoked President Trump to the extent that he has threatened military action. Their absence in Sunday’s parade is an encouraging signal for Washington, which has been urging the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, to ease tensions and focus on diplomacy aimed at ending his country’s nuclear weapons program.

For weeks, outside analysts had been scrutinizing satellite imagery of North Korea’s preparations for Sunday’s festivities. If the North decided not to showcase its ICBMs, they said, it could be counted as a sign that North Korea was serious about its negotiations with Washington.

During the two-hour parade, North Korea displayed conventional weaponry, such as tanks, artillery pieces and multiple-rocket launchers, but it neither rolled out its ICBMs nor made direct references to its growing nuclear weapons capabilities, as it often did in past parades. </s> Pyongyang: North Korea staged a huge military parade on Sunday to mark its 70th anniversary as a nation but held back from showing the Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM). Nearly half of the parade was devoted to civilian efforts to build the domestic economy.

Troops, artillery and tanks made their way past leader Kim Jong-un in the centre of Pyongyang, but the largest missiles shown were short-range battlefield devices, an AFP reporter on scene witnessed.

The strong emphasis on the economy underscores leader Kim Jong-un's new strategy of putting economic development front and center. Kim attended the morning parade but did not address the assembled crowd, which included the head of the Chinese Parliament and high-level delegations from countries that have friendly ties with the North.

Senior statesman Kim Yong Nam, the head of North Korea's Parliament, set the relatively softer tone for the event with an opening speech that emphasized the economic goals of the regime, not its nuclear might.

After a truncated parade featuring tanks, fewer than the usual number of missiles and lots of goose-stepping units from all branches of the military, along with some students and others, the focus switched to civilian groups, ranging from nurses to construction workers, many with colorful floats beside them.

Although North Korea stages military parades almost every year, and held one just before the Olympics began in South Korea in February this year, Sunday's parade came at a particularly sensitive time.

Kim's effort to ease tensions with President Donald Trump have stalled since their June summit in Singapore. Both sides are now insisting on a different starting point. Washington wants Kim to commit to denuclearisation first, but Pyongyang wants its security guaranteed and a peace agreement formally ending the Korean War.

With tensions once again on the rise, a parade featuring the very missiles that so unnerved Trump last year, and led to a dangerous volley of insults from both leaders, could be seen as a deliberate provocation.

The North displayed its latest missilery in the February parade, however, and Washington hardly batted an eye. Soon after the Sunday celebrations end, Kim will once again meet in Pyongyang with South Korean president Moon Jae-in to discuss ways to break the impasse over his nuclear weapons.

The "new line" of putting economic development first has been Kim's top priority this year. He claims to have perfected his nuclear arsenal enough to deter US aggression and devote his resources to raising the nation's standard of living.

This year's celebrations also mark the revival of North Korea's iconic mass games after a five-year hiatus. The mass games involve tens of thousands of people holding up placards or dancing in precise unison and are intended to be a display of national unity. This year's spectacle — tickets start at just over $100 and go up to more than $800 per seat — also has a strong economic theme.

The economy was also a big part of a concert held on the eve of the anniversary for foreign dignitaries and a large foreign media contingent allowed in for the events. </s> As North Korea celebrates its 70th anniversary with a lavish military parade, one conspicuous absence in the form of its national arsenal was notable, the BBC reports. Whereas in years past the yearly parade would feature not only tanks and infantrymen — as were present at this year’s march — but also ICBMs, said missiles remained absent from the festivities conducted in Pyongyang today.

As CNN reports, it appears that Kim Jong Un has decided to refrain from the display of intercontinental ballistic missiles which routinely roll their way past the North Korean leader’s vantage point during the annual parade. The most likely motive behind such a move is to downplay any chance of antagonizing President Trump, given that the ICBMs are the only conveyance capable of potentially delivering a payload to most of the continental United States.

ABC correspondent Martha Raddatz — perhaps most famous with regards to President Trump inasmuch as she inserted herself into the second presidential debate conducted between him and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton — spoke to the nature of the anniversary celebrations, reporting from the North Korean capitol.

“It is a massive spectacle, precision marching bands, fireworks, balloons and planes forming a 70 in the sky. The guest of honor, Kim Jong Un, who was just above us in the square named after his grandfather. Today, presiding over an adoring crowd and an incredible display of North Korea’s military… But it wasn’t what was included in today’s parade that got everyone’s attention — it was what was left out. There were tanks and artillery, but no display of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Last February, before the Singapore Summit, ICBMs — the kind believed capable of reaching the U.S. with a nuclear warhead — were rolled proudly past Kim. Today, nothing even remotely threatening to the U.S. mainland.”

The news comes on the heels of a revelation that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, often perceived to be a point man in the ongoing negotiations surrounding the requested denuclearization of North Korea and the attendant peace talks, was en route back to Washington with a private letter from Kim Jong Un to Donald Trump. According to TIME, it is unclear as to whether or not the letter has been delivered as yet, though it seems eminently likely that President Trump, by now, has been made aware of its contents.

The letter from North Korea comes in response to a letter passed along via Mike Pompeo to North Korea’s foreign minister during the recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting held early in August, CNN reports.

This correspondence is seen as an encouraging sign by both those hoping for a peaceful resolution to the North Korean question as well as by the Trump administration. The news comes on the heels of a spirited statement made by a South Korean envoy that Kim Jong Un had told him personally that North Korea would like to see denuclearization by the end of Trump’s current term of office, according to The New York Times. </s> The military parade focused on conventional arms as thousands of troops marched through Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang. Images from the parade show a mass rally in the square as armed soldiers paraded. Thousands of North Koreans waved flags as Kim Jong-un’s regime displayed its military force. Korean People’s Army tanks took part in the parade which in proviso years has been used by Kim to showcase his nuclear capability.

But the regime’s intercontinental ballistic missiles were nowhere to be seen, instead Kim showcased soldiers carrying guns and tanks rumbled through the square. The reduced display compared to past years earned a thank you note from US President Donald Trump, who hailed it as a "big and very positive statement from North Korea." Mr Trump on Twitter quoted a Fox News description of the event without long-range nuclear missiles as a sign of North Korea's "commitment to denuclearize." The US President tweeted: "Thank you To Chairman Kim. We will both prove everyone wrong! There is nothing like good dialogue from two people that like each other! Much better than before I took office.”

The display came as Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a letter of invitation to visit Russia to Kim, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Monday. He added no detailed plans of a meeting between the two leaders are being discussed at the moment. In Pyongyang, line upon line of goose-stepping soldiers and columns of tanks shook the ground before giving way to chanting crowds waving flags and flowers as they passed a review stand where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sat with a special envoy from China, as well as other visiting foreigners. Kim told the envoy, Chinese parliament chief Li Zhanshu, that North Korea was focusing on economic development and hopes to learn from China's experience in this regard, Chinese state television reported. "North Korea upholds the consensus of the Singapore meeting between the leaders of North Korea and the United States and has taken steps for it and hopes the United States takes corresponding steps, to jointly promote the political resolution process for the peninsula issue," the report paraphrased Kim as saying.

The parade highlight themes of military accomplishment, national development, and international engagement at a time when doubts are arising over Kim's commitment to abandoning nuclear weapons. Unlike in previous years, there were no inter-continental missiles on display. And there were no nuclear tests to mark the holiday, as has happened in each of the last two years. North Korea routinely uses major holidays to showcase its military capabilities and the latest developments in missile technology. But that has lessened this year, underlining Kim's stated aim for denuclearising the Korean peninsula and his recent meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and summits with Trump in Singapore and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and Dalian. The theme for the celebrations this year was economic development and unifying the Korean peninsula, divided since World War Two. </s> PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) - A U.S. guided-missile submarine arrived in South Korea on Tuesday and envoys from the U.S., Japan and South Korea met in Tokyo, as North Korea marked the anniversary of the founding of its military.

Though experts thought a nuclear test or ballistic missile launch was possible around the anniversary, the morning came and went without either. South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing a South Korean government source, reported that North Korea instead appeared to have held a major live-fire drill in the Wonsan city area.

Crowds in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, laid flowers and paid respects at giant statues of the country's former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, one day after the minister of defense reiterated that North is ready to use pre-emptive strikes or any other measures it deems necessary to defend itself against the "U.S. imperialists."

"The situation prevailing on the Korean peninsula is so tense that a nuclear war may break out due to the frantic war drills of the U.S. imperialists and their vassal forces for aggression," Gen. Pak Yong Sik said at a "national meeting" of thousands of senior military and civilian officials.

South Korea's military said it's closely watching North Korean troop movement around Wonsan, but didn't confirm the Yonhap report, which cited an unnamed source to report that the North carried out an exercise involving 300 to 400 artillery pieces.

The streets of Pyongyang were quiet. Flower-laying and bowing at statues and portraits of the leaders is a regular routine on major anniversaries. Groups of people also gathered in open spaces around the city to take part in organized dancing sessions, another common way of marking holidays in North Korea.

"Our great leaders founded and wisely led our revolutionary army, and just like that, now our respected Marshal Kim Jong Un is leading wisely, so even though the situation is tense, we are celebrating the day," said Choe Un Byol, who had come with his family to the bronze statues of the former leaders.

North Korea often marks significant dates by displaying its military capability and has conducted five nuclear tests. Pyongyang launched a missile one day after the 105th birthday of late founder Kim Il Sung on April 15.

Recent U.S. commercial satellite images indicate increased activity around North Korea's nuclear test site, and third-generation dictator Kim Jong Un has said the country's preparation for an ICBM launch is in its "final stage."

South Korea's Defense Ministry has said North Korea appears ready to conduct such "strategic provocations" at any time. South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, the country's acting leader, has instructed his military to strengthen its "immediate response posture" in case North Korea does something significant on Tuesday's anniversary.

The nuclear-powered USS Michigan submarine arrived at Busan in what was described as a routine port visit to rest the crew and load supplies. Cmdr. Jang Wook from the South Korean navy public affairs office said there is no plan for any drill.

The submarine's arrival comes as the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier heads toward the Korean Peninsula for a joint exercise with South Korea around the weekend.

Despite the buildup, President Donald Trump has reportedly settled on a strategy that emphasizes increased pressure on North Korea with the help of China, the North's only major ally, instead of military options or trying to overthrow North Korea's government.

Trump has told ambassadors from U.N. Security Council member countries that they must be prepared to impose additional and stronger sanctions on North Korea.

"This is a real threat to the world, whether we want to talk about it or not," Trump said at a White House meeting Monday. "North Korea is a big world problem, and it's a problem we have to finally solve. People have put blindfolds on for decades, and now it's time to solve the problem."

Nikki Haley, Trump's U.N. ambassador, said the U.S. isn't looking for a fight with Kim and wouldn't attack North Korea "unless he gives us reason to do something." She praised China's increased pressure on North Korea.

Asked about the threshold for U.S. action, Haley told American broadcaster NBC that "if you see him attack a military base, if you see some sort of intercontinental ballistic missile, then obviously we're going to do that."

But asked what if North Korea tests an intercontinental missile or nuclear device, she said: "I think then the president steps in and decides what's going to happen."

U.S. representative for North Korea Policy Joseph Yun met Tuesday with his Japanese counterpart Kenji Kanasugi and Kim Hong-kyun of South Korea. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the three envoys were to deepen cooperation and ensure their countries stay on the same page amid growing tension.

Japan's Foreign Ministry also announced that China's envoy for North Korea, Wu Dawei, is arriving in Tokyo on Tuesday for talks with Kanasugi, which may take place later this week.

Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi and Ken Moritsugu in Tokyo and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report. </s> North Korea is planning a party. Next month, the reclusive country will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the country, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. And there are signs that the event, which will take place on Sept. 9, will be a celebration to watch.

Those observing the preparations for the event have spotted practice for a military parade, while tourist visas to the country have apparently been blocked – sparking speculation about who, exactly, the VIP guests could be. According to one report, a close eye is being kept on the finest details: ruling party youth groups have been sent around the country to keep tabs on taboo haircuts, Radio Free Asia reports.

The North Korean state cherishes anniversaries, using them to reinforce the tale of how their small, embattled state fought off bigger foes like Imperial Japan and the United States. It often uses parades on these days to send a message to these foreign rivals. For example, on the 105th anniversary of the birth of the country’s founder Kim Il Sung in April of last year, North Korea used the day to show off a variety of new intercontinental missiles – an early hint of the technological advances testing would later confirm.

On last year’s anniversary in September, Kim held an event where he celebrated the work of nuclear scientists and engineers who had helped the country test its biggest ever nuclear bomb just a few days earlier. Earlier in the year, in February, North Korea had used another military parade to display the recently-tested Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15 missiles that could theoretically deliver a nuclear weapon to the continental United States.

This year’s DPRK anniversary event will be different however. In many ways, the messaging behind it will be more complex.

North Korea was previously happy to menace the United States and other rivals with visions of military might as tensions escalated rapidly. This June, however, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with President Donald Trump in Singapore, where they agreed to work toward peace. Kim has also held several meetings with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in, with both sides talking hopefully of greater integration.

The negotiations started with these meetings have been far from conclusive. In particular, North Korea and the United States seem to be at odds over the issue of denuclearization – with Washington seeking progress on North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons before other issues, like the long-awaited official end of the Korean War, while Pyongyang clearly views things differently.

As such, though things are nominally warmer with the United States, a surprise Trump visit to Pyongyang on Sept. 9 looks unlikely at the moment. Instead, many are expecting a different guest – China’s Xi Jinping – whose presence would send a message to Washington that it isn’t the only game in town.

Either way, Sept. 9 is expected to be a big event. Jeffrey Lewis, a nonproliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey who often uses satellite imagery to keep track on North Korea’s weapons program, pointed to images from Aug. 11 that appeared to show people in Pyongyang preparing their choreography for the day.

More satellite imagery analysis published by NK News suggested that the events of Sept. 9 would indeed include a military parade, with an apparent buildup of military assets at an airfield in east Pyongyang that had been used as a preparations ground for previous military parades. It is unclear from the imagery what sort of weaponry might be included in the parade.

On another practical note, tour groups have said that Pyongyang has stopped issuing tourism visas for September. One group, Koryo Tours, wrote on their website that they had been information “by our partners in Pyongyang that they had been instructed from above that all tourist visa applications currently underway are to be frozen.” Koryo later wrote that this applied only to tours up until Sept. 9.

Koryo speculated that the frozen visa applications suggested that Pyongyang was still working out who the VIP foreign guests attending the events on Sept. 9 might be. “A higher power in the country is simply pressing pause on tourism until it is clear to them who is coming in such delegations and how many people,” they wrote in their statement.

Chinese tour groups have also said they have had their packages blocked – with North Korean authorities apparently citing “renovation” at all hotels in Pyongyang for the rest of August. There had been rumors in the South Korean press that Xi would attend the games. South Korean leader Moon is also expected to visit North Korea at some point in September.

With little official confirmation and outside access to the country limited, reports are still largely limited to rumors and speculation. Radio Free Asia cited one unnamed source in the country that the government had given out special instructions to “root out nonsocialist phenomena, such as fashion choices and hairstyles that do not fit the socialist lifestyle.”
• That lump in her eyelid? The contact lens she lost 28 years ago Previous reports a few years ago that North Korea was mandating the haircuts of young men were largely met with suspicion from experts, who suggested that a trend toward copying Kim Jong Un’s hairstyle was just that: A trend. But there’s no denying that North Korea will be image conscious this September – it certainly knows the world will be watching. </s> SEOUL – North Korea held a military parade to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its founding on Sunday but refrained from displaying its long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles or mentioning its nuclear program amidst a period of diplomatic negotiations with the United States and South Korea.

In previous years, the parade has been a showcase for Pyongyang’s latest weapons technology, but this year the event had a less bellicose tone, according to reports from foreign journalists invited to cover it.

Thousands of goose-stepping troops marched through Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square before crowds waving brightly colored plastic bouquets of flowers, according to the Associated Press. Tanks and shorter-range weapons were on display, but none of the long-range missiles with the capacity to strike targets in the continental U.S. were seen.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was on hand but did not address the crowd. He reviewed the procession from a balcony over Kim Il Sung Square alongside senior officials and foreign envoys including Li Zhanshu, a member of China’s Politburo Standing Committee who is number three in Beijing’s power hierarchy.

Kim Yong Nam, head of North Korea’s parliament, delivered a speech that focused mainly on economic development, according to CNN.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has accelerated economic reforms since coming to power in 2011, and this year, in particular, he has emphasized developing North Korea’s economy. In April, he announced that North Korea would be ending its policy of dual-track development of both nuclear weapons and economic growth and instead would “focus all of its energy on building a socialist economy.”

Other foreign dignitaries on hand included Valentina Matvienko, the speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament, who told the Russian news agency RIA that Kim Jong Un confirmed his intention to visit Russia. The North Korean leader “wants peace,” she was quoted as saying.

Also viewing the parade was French actor Gerard Depardieu, who was spotted by journalists from the Agence France-Presse news agency.

The parade comes as North Korea and the United States appear to be at an impasse over negotiations concerning North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. A June summit in Singapore between Kim Jong Un and President Trump produced an agreement pledging "to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," but failed to provide a roadmap for how that might work.

North Korea wants a peace declaration officially ending the Korean War and relief from punishing international sanctions but the United States has held firm on its demands for complete denuclearization first. Hostilities in the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice after three years of brutal conflict that claimed the lives of nearly 3 million soldiers and civilians, including more than 36,000 Americans, but no peace treaty has been signed.

“We believe that denuclearization has to take place before we get to other parts,” State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, Kim Jong Un expressed "unwavering trust for President Trump" and said that he wants to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula before the end of Trump’s first term, according to South Korean special envoy Chung Eun-yong after a meeting with Kim in Pyongyang.

Trump thanked Kim for his sentiment on Twitter, adding: “We will get it done together!”

On Saturday, the State Department confirmed that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo received a personal letter from Kim for Trump, which the president had said he believes will be "positive" in tone.

Seoul has also been strongly pushing for closer diplomatic and economic ties with Pyongyang, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will be meeting Kim Jong Un for a third time on September 18-20. President Moon said on Friday that he will be seeking “irrevocable progress” in efforts to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons by the end of this year at the summit, which will be held in Pyongyang.

North Korea was also scheduled to hold its first Mass Games spectacle in five years on Sunday. The event in the past has a with enormous choreographed propaganda displays and large-scale performances of up to 100,000 synchronized gymnasts and dancers.
North Korea celebrates its 70th anniversary with a military parade in Pyongyang with the absence of its international ballistic missiles.