Top DPRK leader attends massive military parade to celebrate key party anniversary

PYONGYANG - Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), attended a massive military parade here on Friday marking the 80th founding anniversary of the WPK, state media said Saturday.

The military parade featured foot formations representing various services and arms of the DPRK military forces and military hardware columns showcasing the country's most advanced weaponry, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The new Hwasongpho-20 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) also made an appearance at the parade.

Before Full General No Kwang-chol, the country's defense minister, led the columns of the parade units in their grand march, Kim gave a speech.

"To defend the sovereignty of the DPRK and protect the security and interests of the Korean people is the supreme duty and absolute mission assumed by our army," Kim was quoted by the KCNA as saying. The DPRK military force should "continue to grow into an invincible entity that destroys all threats approaching our range of self-defense," he said.

The march of foot formations ranged widely from columns symbolic of different historical periods and lifeguard unit columns, to columns of corps responsible for defending the front of the southern border and the first-line field troop columns. It also involved columns of the Navy and the Air Force, columns of the Strategic Forces, the Special Operations Forces and the Overseas Operations Units, among many others, the KCNA reported.

Following the foot formations march, columns of mechanized units were inspected, in a clear show of the country's most advanced military hardware, including Chonma-20 main battle tanks, 600mm multiple-launch rocket systems, as well as long-range strategic cruise missile systems, drones, surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missile systems, the KCNA said.

The DPRK displayed its strategic weapon systems at the final stage of the parade, as heavy military vehicles carrying missile systems loaded with hypersonic gliding vehicles and hypersonic intermediate-range strategic missile systems moved through the square.

The cheering among the packed spectators reached a climax as the Hwasongpho-20 ICBMs entered the square last, the KCNA reported, calling it "the most powerful nuclear strategic weapon system of the DPRK."