North Korea\u2019s weapons of war rolled through Pyongyang streets Saturday and it promised \u201cnuclear justice\u201d in response to any atomic attack as leader Kim Jong…<\/b>
North Korea\u2019s weapons of war rolled through Pyongyang streets Saturday and it promised \u201cnuclear justice\u201d in response to any atomic attack as leader Kim Jong-Un mounted a spectacular show of strength.
Tensions over Pyongyang\u2019s nuclear ambitions are stretched to the limit, with US President Donald Trump deploying an aircraft carrier battle group to the region.
After a 21-gun salute, tens of thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen goose-stepped through Kim Il-Sung Square turning their eyes towards the high balcony from where Kim watched, flanked by officers and officials.
Some detachments carried assault rifles or rocket-propelled grenades, others were equipped with night-vision goggles and daubed in face paint. One troupe was made up of sword-wielding women.
Tanks came next through the square \u2014 named after Kim\u2019s grandfather, the North\u2019s founder \u2014 followed by the objects of world concern.
A total of 56 missiles of 10 different types were displayed, culminating in enormous rockets on articulated trailers and on 16-wheeler vehicles.
The nuclear-armed North is under United Nations sanctions over its weapons programmes, and has ambitions to build a rocket capable of delivering a warhead to the US mainland -? something Trump has vowed \u201cwon\u2019 t happen\u201d.
Ostensibly Saturday\u2019s event was to mark the 105th anniversary of Kim Il-Sung\u2019s birth \u2014 a date known as the \u201cDay of the Sun\u201d in the North \u2014 and a squadron of warplanes flew overhead forming the number.
But it was also intended to send an unmistakable message to Washington about the isolated country\u2019s military might.
Kim\u2019s close aide Choe Ryong-Hae declared that the North was a \u201cpowerful nuclear-armed state in the Orient and Asia\u2019s leader in rocketry\u201d.
It could \u201cbeat down enemies with the power of nuclear justice\u201d, he said, and was \u201cprepared to respond to an all-out war with an all-out war.
\u201cWe are ready to hit back with nuclear attacks of our own style against any nuclear attacks, \u201d he said.
\u2013 Fever pitch \u2013
The 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty and Pyongyang says it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself against a possible US invasion.
It has carried out five nuclear tests ?- two of them last year -? and multiple missile launches, one of which saw several rockets come down in waters provocatively close to Japan last month.
Speculation that it could conduct a sixth blast in the coming days to coincide with the anniversary has reached fever pitch, with specialist US website 38North describing its Punggye-ri test site as \u201cprimed and ready\u201d and White House officials saying military options were \u201calready being assessed\u201d.
After dispatching the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and an accompanying battle group to the Korean peninsula Trump told the Fox Business Network: \u201cWe are sending an armada.\u201d
\u201cHe is doing the wrong thing, \u201d he added
of Kim. \u201cHe\u2019s making a big mistake.\u201d
China, the North\u2019s sole major ally, and Russia have both urged restraint, with Beijing\u2019s Foreign Minister Wang Yi warning Friday that \u201cconflict could break out at any moment\u201d.
The North is aiming its message at China as well as the US, analysts say.
Beijing\u2019s priority remains preventing any instability on its doorstep, and it has been unnerved by the sabre-rattling.
But diplomats in Pyongyang point out that the North raises its rhetoric every spring, when Washington and Seoul hold annual joint military exercises that it views as preparations for invasion.
It has not previously held a nuclear test in the month of April.
\u2013 Testing times \u2013
Military specialists keep a close eye on Pyongyang\u2019s parades for clues about developments in its capabilities.
The hardware displayed Saturday included what appeared to be new ICBMs or prototypes, and the Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missile, which Pyongyang successfully test-fired last August, reports and analysts said.
The rockets carried on articulated trailers appeared to be longer than the North\u2019s existing KN-08 or KN-14 missiles, analysts said.
Chad O\u2019 Carroll, managing director of specialist service NK News, told AFP they could be a liquid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile, or an early version of one, even though Pyongyang has yet to formally announce it has an operational ICBM.
\u201cIt will be a big game-changer once it is deployed in service but they have got a long testing schedule ahead, \u201d he said.
\u201cWe\u2019 ll probably see more engine tests or component tests building up eventually to an actual test of the full unit.\u201d
\u2013 \u2018Long live!\u2019 \u2013
Pyongyang could use the parade as a show of strength in preference to a nuclear test, analysts said.
It wanted to send \u201ca tough message to the United States in response to the Trump administration\u2019s recent rhetoric and the military steps the United States has taken\u201d, said Evans Revere of the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Another missile launch or nuclear test \u201ccan\u2019 t be ruled out\u201d, he said, but the recent US cruise missile strike on Syria and Washington\u2019s tough stance \u201cmay give Pyongyang some pause\u201d.
\u201cA parade is a highly visible but non-kinetic way of showing off capabilities, \u201d he told AFP.
Kim did not address the rally himself on Saturday, instead waving and smiling as ecstatic crowds of flag- and flower-bearing civilians \u2014 men in suits, women in traditional hanbok dresses \u2014 filed past him behind the military display.
\u201cLong live!\u201d they chanted, some in tears.<\/p>\n