Biden's strategy on North Korea 2:39
(CNN) -
North Korea celebrated the end of a rare political summit by unveiling what appears to be a missile designed to be fired from a submarine.
Images from Korea's state-run Central News Agency (KCNA) show thousands of people and soldiers at a nightly military parade in the country's capital Pyongyang, including leader Kim Jong Un.
However, the most striking headline was the new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), which KCNA said was the "most powerful weapon in the world."
Pyongyang also showed off an apparent new short-range ballistic missile that, like its submarine counterpart, is likely to run on solid fuel.
Solid-fuel missiles can be fired earlier than liquid-fuel missiles.
This photograph taken Thursday and published by North Korea's Central News Agency on Friday shows what appear to be submarine-launched ballistic missiles, displayed during a military parade.
The display comes just days after Kim said that North Korea was seeking new sophisticated weapons for the country's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, including a nuclear-powered submarine, tactical nukes, and advanced warheads designed to penetrate the systems. missile defense.
Worrying signs
Analysts said Kim's plans, and the missiles on display, are worrying signs for the future of any possible disarmament talks between Pyongyang and the incoming administration of US President-elect Joe Biden.
"No matter who is in power in the United States, the true nature and true spirit of anti-North Korea policy will never change," Kim said Saturday.
"The development of nuclear weapons will continue without interruption."
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ANALYSIS |
North Korea sacrifices its relationship with China, the lifeline of its economy, to avoid covid-19
Thursday's parade was held to celebrate the conclusion of the Eighth Workers' Party Congress, a summit at which the North Korean elite come together and reflect on the successes and failures of years past and set an agenda for the near future.
They are generally held every five years or so, but Kim's father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, stopped holding them after 1980. Kim Jong Un revived the congresses in 2016.
Kim's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, hinted earlier this week that Pyongyang might celebrate the end of the Congress with a parade.
Congress in North Korea
The main focus of the Eighth Congress was the dire economic situation in North Korea.
The covid-19 pandemic, sanctions, and natural disasters have upset Kim's goal of improving the standard of living for all North Koreans.
However, that dire prospect has not affected Pyongyang's ambitious and expensive plans for weapons development, regardless of its limited resources.
"Kim continues to show the world that despite North Korea's economic difficulties over the past year, the focus on maintaining nuclear forces and modernizing conventional weapons has not changed," said Ankit Panda, principal investigator of the laboratory. think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and expert on North Korea's nuclear program.
Panda said the SLBM shown was "evidence of North Korea's increasing sophistication with large solid-propellant-based ballistic missiles," but noted that it is also important to consider why Kim may have wanted to show it to his own people.
"These parades are not just for the outside world, of course," said Panda, author of the book Kim Jong Un and the Bomb: Survival and Deterrence in North Korea. "
"Even if Kim openly acknowledges the economic difficulties, he can shore up his leadership by showing the people of Pyongyang, the North Korean elite, that he has been able to deliver on military modernization."
New missiles
The SLBM and the new systems announced by Kim during Congress are in various stages of development, but almost all of them would have to be tested to be considered operational, the kind of test that is anathema to Washington.
A test launch of a new missile, warhead or nuclear device would likely set the stage for a showdown between the two countries in the early days of a new American administration that must face a raging coronavirus pandemic and unprecedented political unrest at home.
However, some analysts were encouraged by the fact that North Korea did not display its ICBMs, which are designed to carry a nuclear weapon over long distances, potentially to the United States.
The weapon systems displayed as a whole were less impressive than those unveiled in October, when North Korea celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea, the communist body that governs the country.
The final parade on that occasion included a gigantic ICBM, so large it was carried on an 11-axle truck.
Experts believe the colossal design means that it could likely be armed with multiple warheads.
North Korea reveals huge ballistic missile 0:40
No mask
However, one of the most puzzling facts about Thursday's parade was that very few people photographed were wearing masks.
The lack of masks was not surprising in itself, given recent history: very few masks were seen at an October parade and at the start of the Party Congress last week.
But having such a large gathering without masks is very risky.
The Kim regime has gone to great lengths to educate its people on the danger of the coronavirus and halt its spread, likely because it knows its dilapidated healthcare infrastructure would be overwhelmed by a major Covid-19 outbreak.
North Korea claims not to have recorded a single case of covid-19, so holding a major event without masks can be one way to reinforce that narrative.
But hardly anyone believes that the country has been saved from a pandemic that has infected more than 93 million people and killed almost 2 million.
CNN's Jake Kwon contributed to this report.
Kim Jong UnMissilesSubmarines