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North Korea bends new missiles during military parade
STORY: North Korea to expand its nuclear arsenal. That’s what leader Kim Jong Un announced when Pyongyang marked its army’s founding anniversary with a massive parade, according to state media. Pyongyang’s KCNA news agency said Tuesday that the parade featured North Korea’s largest known intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-17, while a state newspaper has released footage of several weapons being paraded through swaying crowds. has stepped up its weapons tests and demonstrations of military might as denuclearization talks with the US stall and South Korea prepares to swear in its newly elected conservative president. US and South Korean officials say there are signs of new construction at North Korea’s only known nuclear power plant test site, which has been officially closed since 2018, suggesting Pyongyang will resume nuclear weapons testing. Kim told KCNA that the main mission behind the North’s nuclear force is to deter war, but other uses may apply. During a visit to Seoul last week, US envoy to North Korea, Sung Kim, said the allies would “responsibly and resolutely respond to provocative behavior” – but emphasized his willingness to engage with North Korea “anywhere without conditions” come. has said it is open to diplomacy but has dismissed Washington’s rapprochement as insincere, calling the sanctions and military exercises with the South “hostile policies.”
