Kim shows off new drones and ballistic missiles at night-time parade

SEOUL, July 28 (AFP/AP): Nuclear-capable missiles and new attack drones were among the weapons displayed in a large military parade staged in Pyongyang for leader Kim Jong Un and visiting delegations from China and Russia, North Korean state media reported on Friday.
The widely anticipated parade was held on Thursday night to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, celebrated in North Korea as "Victory Day".
The Chinese and Russian delegations, including Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, were the first such visitors to North Korea since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
"Strategic unmanned reconnaissance aircraft and multi-purpose attack drones newly developed and produced... flew in demonstrations while circling in the sky over (Kim Il Sung) square, doubling the joy of the people celebrating," the official Korean Central News Agency said.
The "audience's excitement and joy were heightened" when the nuclear-armed country's newest ICBM, the solid-fuel Hwasong-18 tested in April and July this year, was paraded through the square, KCNA said.
The festivities were attended by high-ranking Russian and Chinese delegations-Kim's first-known foreign guests since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic-marking the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, which ended open hostilities and is celebrated as Victory Day.
Kim "sent a warm combat greeting" to the parade, KCNA said, without mentioning whether he gave a speech.
Satellite imagery confirmed that North Korea staged a large-scale military parade for Thursday's anniversary.
KCNA said the parade would "be engraved in our history as a grand political military festival that demonstrated the unwavering will of the 10 million soldiers to create a new legend of the Kim Jong Un era."
The parade is indeed a key part of "promoting Kim Jong Un's ruling legitimacy and internal unity in this economically challenging time," Yangmo Ku, a political science professor at Norwich University, told AFP.
But this year, with the inclusion of high-level guests from Moscow and Beijing, Pyongyang is also "trying to send the US and its allies a signal that under the strengthened ties with Russia and China, North Korea is militarily ready to cope with strategic threats from its enemies", he said.
"All these acts mean the emergence of the new Cold War surrounding the Korean Peninsula," Ku added, urging Washington, Seoul and Tokyo to take steps to ease growing tensions.
Beijing is North Korea's most important ally and economic benefactor, their relationship forged in the bloodshed of the Korean War in the 1950s.
Russia, another historically, is one of a handful of nations with which Pyongyang maintains friendly relations, and experts said it was noteworthy that Moscow had sent Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to the anniversary celebrations.
Meanwhile, Japan said on Friday that North Korea posed a more serious threat to its national security than "ever before", as nuclear-armed Pyongyang rattles its neighbours with repeated missile tests and belligerent rhetoric.
In its annual white paper-a rundown of the most pressing military threats and plans to ensure stability-Japan's defence ministry made a case for a significant hike in domestic defence spending as the world enters "a new era of crisis".
While China's growing military might and Russia's invasion of Ukraine were major focuses of the white paper, North Korea also ranked as a key concern for Japan.
"North Korea's military activities pose an even more grave and imminent threat to Japan's national security than ever before," the document said.
"It is believed that North Korea has the ability to attack Japan with nuclear weapons fitted to ballistic missiles."
The white paper, approved by the cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday morning, comes as North Korea ramps up the frequency of its missile tests.