North Korea invited visiting Chinese delegates and Russian artists to a paramilitary parade featuring rocket launchers pulled by trucks and tractors, state media said on Saturday, in leader Kim Jong Un’s latest effort to display his ties with Moscow and Beijing in the face of deepening confrontations with Washington.
The midnight parade in the capital, Pyongyang, which was to celebrate North Korea’s 75th founding anniversary, came amid expectations that Kim will travel to Russia soon for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that could focus on North Korean arm sales to refill reserves drained by the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.
While China has sent a delegation led by Vice Premier Liu Guozhong to the North Korea’s anniversary celebrations, Russia sent a military song and dance group.
South Korean media speculated that the lack of Russian government officials at the festivities in Pyongyang could be related to preparations for a summit between Kim and Putin, which Washington expects within the month. According to some US reports, it could happen as early as next week.
Putin is expected to attend an international forum that runs from Sunday to Wednesday in the eastern city of Vladivostok, which was also the site of his first summit with Kim in 2019 and is now seen as a possible venue for their next meeting. South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing on Thursday that North Korea and Russia could also be arranging an unexpected “surprise” route for Kim's visit to avoid potential venues reported by the media.
North Korea has not confirmed any plans for Kim to visit Russia.
KCNA said Kim received letters from Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the anniversary, where both leaders said that their countries' strengthening ties with North Korea would contribute to the region's peace and stability.
Saturday’s parade was centered around paramilitary organizations and public security forces protecting Pyongyang, rather than the military units that handle his nuclear-capable weapons systems, which have been the focus of other parades this year.
Millions of North Koreans between the ages of 17 and 60 are listed as Worker-Peasant Red Guards, a national civil defense organisation that could be loosely compared to military reserve forces of other countries.
Saturday’s marches of the Red Guards included huge columns of motorcycles, anti-tank rockets towed by tractors and civilian-style trucks equipped with multiple rocket launchers, according to KCNA’s text reports and photos.