Raj Abrar: North Korea held a huge military parade yesterday – the first since negotiations with the US over denuclearization began – celebrating the 70th anniversary of its founding.
Previous public parades featured nuclear missile launchers, but they were not a part of Sunday’s celebration in Pyongyang – a clear sign that leader Kim Jong Un did not want to cause diplomatic provocation as negotiations still continue.
At the end of the parade, Kim waved to the crowd hand in hand with Li Zhanshu, one of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s closest advisers – a sign of ever-closer relations between the two countries.
Xi has congratulated Kim Jong Un and North Korea on the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding, hailing it once again as the “new historical period” that the country was entering.
Nevertheless, the parade was a huge affair, lasting about two hours.
There were military hardware on display, including tanks, artillery, short-range rockets and missile launchers, alongside ranks of soldiers filling past in characteristic North Korean goosestep-like march. Thousands of civilians followed afterwards, waving flags and shouting slogans – A mass display of obedience, loyalty and devotion only possible in a totalitarian regime.
-Source: Sky News