North Korea shows off new submarine-launched missiles after rare party congress

Several of the SLBMs rolled through Pyongyang’s central Kim Il Sung Square during a nighttime military parade, state media said Friday.

Using typically flowery language, the state-run Korean Central News Agency called the missile the “world’s most powerful weapon.” North Korea also showed off a new short-range missile during the parade.

Wearing a shiny black leather jacket and fur hat, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended the Thursday event, which marked the end of a major multiday meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party.

It is North Korea’s second military parade in about three months. At an October parade, North Korea showed off its largest intercontinental ballistic missile, which appears designed to overwhelm U.S. missile defenses.

The parades are a reminder that Pyongyang continues to develop new nuclear weapons and ballistic missile capabilities despite economic hardships brought on by the coronavirus and international sanctions.

“New year, new Pukguksong,” he tweeted, using the name for the North’s submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

Kim oversaw the display, which included rockets with a “powerful striking capability for thoroughly annihilating enemies in a preemptive way outside the territory”, KCNA said — implying a range extending beyond the Korean peninsula.

Images showed the parade ending with what appeared to be a new solid-fuel short-range ballistic missile — which are more mobile and more quickly deployed than liquid-fuelled versions.

“They’d like us to notice that they’re getting more proficient with larger solid rocket boosters,” Panda tweeted.

Analysts say the North is using the congress to send Washington’s incoming administration a message of strength in an attempt to extract concessions.

Kim and Donald Trump had a tumultuous relationship, engaging in mutual insults and threats of war before an extraordinary diplomatic bromance featuring headline-grabbing summits and declarations of love by the outgoing US president.

But little substantive progress was made, with the process deadlocked after a February 2019 summit in Hanoi broke down over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return.

The North is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.