North Korea Answers US’s Show of Force with New ICBMs Displayed at Military Parade

No one does a military parade quite like the North Koreans:

North Korea’s latest military hardware, including what analysts said appeared to be three kinds of intercontinental ballistic missiles, rolled through the North’s capital on Saturday, as the country showed off its military might amid heightened tensions with the United States.

As the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, watched from a platform, long columns of goose-stepping soldiers, accompanied by a fleet of tanks, missiles and rocket tubes, marched through a large plaza in the capital, Pyongyang, that was named after Mr. Kim’s grandfather Kim Il-sung, the country’s founding president.

Saturday was the 105th anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s birth and the North’s most important holiday, called the Day of the Sun. The United States, China and other regional powers had feared that North Korea might mark the occasion by conducting its sixth nuclear test or by launching an intercontinental ballistic missile. The United States sent a naval strike group to the area in a show of force.

But no seismic tremor emanated on Saturday morning from the North’s nuclear test site, where recent satellite photographs have shown what appeared to be preparations for an underground detonation.

South Korean analysts said Mr. Kim seemed to have decided to celebrate his grandfather’s birthday not with a nuclear test or a missile launching, but with a military parade meant to demonstrate his missile capabilities to his American foes.

To military analysts scrutinizing North Korea’s broadcast of the parade, the most noteworthy element seemed to be three types of long-range ballistic missiles, one of them apparently new.  [New York Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but remember that these new ICBMs have not been tested and could be mock ups for all we know.  The signaling that the Kim regime appears to be doing is to show the US that they are developing solid fuel ICBMs.  Missiles with solid fuel means they can be fired quicker due to not needing to be fueled.  They did recently successfully test fire the Pukguksong-2 intermediate range missile which uses solid fuel which shows they are developing the capability.

Most significant was that the Kim regime did not conduct a nuclear test yet.  It will be interesting to see if in the coming days if they will attempt to conduct one.  If not this is an indication that the US show of force worked to stop their planned nuclear test.

For further reading I recommend going over to CNN where they have some good video of the missiles North Korea had on display.  The Diplomat as well has a good analysis of the parade that is worth reading.