North Korea: News in Recent Days (Military Parade, Missile Test and Kim Jong-Un's Weight Loss)

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North Korea, the Hermit Kingdom, has managed to keep the international eyes out even more since the pandemic started and their borders went firmly shut. We were graced with two very interesting pieces of news from North Korea in the past week. 

MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT PARADE 

In what has been called ''The Parade of Paramilitary and Public Security Forces'' which included labourers, research groups and regional party leaders coming to march in the Kim Il-Sung Square under the watchful gaze of the national Dear Leader, Kim Jong-un. There was no heavy weaponry or strong military force to be found. 

Paratroopers riding motorcycles in the parade

The parade featured paratroopers dropping from the sky, and the most striking group were the orange hazmat suit clad, gas mask wearing unit called the ''emergency disease prevention unit''. The purpose of these ''anti-pandemic'' fighters was to showcase how North Korea has kept it's population safe from the COVID-19 outbreak. There were also featured agricultural marchers sporting guns, as well as fire trucks and tractors. Afterwards, there was a grand display of fireworks!

The ''emergency disease prevention unit''

The parade consisted of 37 groups, most of those groups belong to what is called the Worker-Peasant Red Guards (WPRG). This is a paramilitary force that is organised on a provincial or town/ city level and it includes people that are trained from the countryside and will defend their factories, lands, or small villages in case of war. They are not short of weaponry, maintaining an arsenal of small firearms that includes mortars, field guns and even anti-aircraft weapons. They also possess older model grenade launchers that have been modernized, for example BM-13s (Katyusha rocket launchers). The overall strength of the WPRG is estimated at 5 million people. 

Fireworks over the parade

It is speculated that this parade was organised to boost populace morale, alongside celebrating the 73rd anniversary of the founding of North Korea. Another reason for holding this parade is simply that Kim Jong-un loves to have military parades. Under his grandfather and father before him, there was a total of 25 parades. Under the current Dear Leader, there has been a total of 10 parades. So the ratio was about one parade every 2.5 years under his predecessors, under him there has been on average 1 parade per year, with 3 happening in the last 11 months (October 2020, January 2021, and September 2021). 

It is quite well known that since the pandemic North Korea has been struggling. There is widespread famine, that is said to rival the famine of the 1990s called the ''Arduous March''. The border closures has impacted even the elite, with goods shortages from lack of imports, and overinflated prices due to the extreme lack of amenities. 

Most of the foreign diplomats have left the country, with the Russian diplomats openly stating on Facebook that their lives in North Korea had become unbearable. Even getting basic supplies such as sugar and coffee was an almost impossible task! 

SLIMMED DOWN DEAR LEADER

A surprising sight at the parade was the unrecognizable Kim Jong-un For the past year, he has been consistently slimming down, fuelling speculation of ill-health. It has been documented that in a bid to look more like his grandfather, the young dictator has put on an average of 7kg per year of reign. However, now the Supreme Leader is looking younger and healthier than he has in some time. Maybe the years filled with feasts and the ''high life'' has finally caught up with him and, under doctors' orders, he has decided to change to a healthier lifestyle. 

Kim Jong-Un surrounded by children

MISSILE TESTING OVER THE WEEKEND 

According to North Korean state media, the Korean Centre News Agency, the Academy of Defence Science was testing long-range cruise missiles during the weekend of 11-12 September. Exactly on 20th anniversary of the 9/11 World Trade Centre attacks in the United States! The weapons have been in the works for the past two years. They have been described as ''strategic weapons'' by the DPRK news. 

Long range missiles launched on the weekend 

The missiles flew 1,500kms  or 930 miles, for 2 hours and went in a race track and oval shape. They went in such contained pattern so that they would not breach into foreign air space, but stay within the boundaries of the North Korean air space. 

According to experts, they tried to have longer ranges as in March 2021 they tested short range missiles. 

Weapons experts speculate that the missiles fits the description for a LACM, or land-attack cruise missile. Not many technical details have been released, but if this does turn out to be a ''strategic'' weapon then South Korea, and neighbouring Japan, will have heavier demands on their air defence capabilities. 

References

 

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