By A.B. Abrams for the Saker Blog
Marking the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean Workers’ Party, today the oldest ruling party in the world, a major military parade in Kim Il Sung Square, Central Pyongyang, sent a number of important messages regarding the state of North Korea’s ongoing conflict with the United States. The two countries has been officially at war for 70 years as of 2020, a comprehensive analysis of which was provided in my recently published book on the subject. The parade was the third held in Pyongyang since the Korean Peninsula came near the brink of direct conflict in 2017, and the first since February 2018 and the beginning of open negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington where the East Asian state has displayed strategic ballistic missiles. The display has been widely interpreted in the West as a sign of the Donald Trump administration’s failure to see through what was formerly considered by far its most successful foreign policy initiative, a breakthrough in relations with North Korea which would see the country either dismantle, or more realistically curb and accept a freeze on, its program to develop a strategic nuclear deterrent.[1] Aside from three summit meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and a major toning down of rhetoric on both sides, the only sign of success in this regard was that North Korea stopped testing nuclear warheads and strategic ballistic missiles, and stopped displaying them either at military parades, as was evident at the last parade in September 2018,[2] or on posters, music videos or other state propaganda works.
B. Abrams/Clarity Press
For the Donald Trump administration, failure to reach a deal with North Korea or make any tangible impact on its deterrence program was largely covered up by Pyongyang’s apparent assent to develop its weapons more quietly. And develop them they did, with U.S. intelligence indicating that the country was serially producing Hwasong-15 intercontinental range ballistic missiles and associated nuclear warheads throughout the period of open negotiations with Washington and ever since, [3] not giving the U.S. the victory of a ‘freeze’ on the weapons programs unless it received real concessions in return. North Korea had successfully test fired three intercontinental range ballistic (ICBM) missiles from July to November 2017, the first of which the writer personally saw announced and celebrated from central Pyongyang just a few steps from Kim Il Sung square on July 4th. These missiles, and a subsequent test of a more sophisticated miniaturised thermonuclear warhead, demonstrated beyond much reasonable doubt that America’s oldest adversary had gained the capability to strike the U.S. mainland, with U.S. intelligence later confirming the viability of both ICBM designs tested as well as their warheads.[4] As Foreign Policy concluded in response to the first of these revelations in early August of that year ‘The Game Is Over, and North Korea Has Won.’[5] Following a further ICBM test three months later in November 2017, the most recent one to date, which saw a much larger missile called the Hwasong-15 fired, U.S. intelligence would further confirm that this new missile could strike not a part, but the entire U.S. mainland including East Coast cities like New York. [6]
Engagement Range of Hwasong-15 ICBM Source: Military Watch Magazine
In return for the Korean side keeping a lower profile, and not emphasizing the Trump administration’s failure to stop its weapons programs with conspicuous actions like missile tests, Washington relaxed its ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Pyongyang. Trump not only agreed that it was ‘ok’ for China to loosen sanction enforcement against North Korea,[7] with the American pressure strategy previously having been centred on ‘pressuring China to pressure Korea’[8] which subsequently was abandoned, but the American president also agreed for the first time to a one-to-one meeting with his North Korean counterpart. The latter was something the Korean side had been requesting for well over a decade, which prior administrations refused on the basis that it would ‘legitimise’ a government which America did not officially recognise, and that negotiations should be withheld a ‘reward’ for ‘good behaviour’ and moves towards disarmament.[9] Thus the turn in the relationship from 2018 showed that North Korea was very much in the stronger position. This was further evidenced at the most recent meeting between Trump and Kim at the demilitarised zone in June 2019, referred to in The Atlantic as ‘the day denuclearisation died,’[10] representing a considerable step towards normalisation of North Korea as a nuclear power with no mention of the nuclear issue made at all during the meeting.
www.dprk360.com Unnamed New Korean ICBM on 22 Wheel Transporter Erector Launcher Source: Korean Central News Agency
Regarding the recent military parade, the presence of a number of weapons systems both strategic and tactical were highly notable. The parade saw the second appearance of the Hwasong-15, which was followed by the unveiling of an entirely new yet unnamed ICBM design. The new missile is thought to be the largest in the world deployed from a mobile launcher, with its launch vehicle having 22 wheels compared to that of the already massive Hwasong-15 which had just 18 wheels. Given that the range of the Hwasong-15 is already sufficient to reach all possible strategic targets, it is expected that the new missile will carry a much larger payload comprised of multiple warheads and a multiple independent re-entry vehicle. This will allow each of the new missiles to cause several times as much damage as its predecessor, and will also make it much more difficult for American air defence systems such as the GMD to intercept attacks. The use of a solid fuel propellent, which will facilitate a shorter launch time and allow missiles to be stored fully fuelled, has also been speculated by a number of analysts. North Korean sources are likely to only specify the capabilities of the new missile should tensions with the U.S. again rise, as some form of warning.
www.dprk360.com Pukkuksong-4 Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile on Parade Source: Korean Central News Agency
A third strategic missile class which also received prominent position in the parade was the Pukkuksong-4 submarine launched platform. This is the only North Korean strategic weapon test fired since the end of 2017,[11] although it was largely ignored by administration officials much as multiple tests of short ranged tactical missiles from Spring 2019 to early 2020 had been. Attempts by the Trump administration to play down the importance of Korean missile tests since 2017, including separately by State Secretary Pompeo[12] and the president himself,[13] were an unprecedented response to such activities against which all prior post-Cold War administrations had taken a zero-tolerance line. It thus again reflected that Pyongyang had gained a position of considerable strength.
www.dprk360.com KN-23 Tactical Ballistic Missiles on Parade Source: Korean Central News Agency
Alongside the Pukkuksong-4, two other missiles using advanced solid fuel composites were displayed on parade, the KN-23 and KN-24 platforms, with the former appearing in very large numbers from different types of launch vehicle. Other than the single test of the Pukkuksong, these were the only missiles tested since 2017, and both are short ranged and intended for tactical purposes. The missiles are thought to have replaced the Hwasong-6 (a Scud derivative) and the KN-02 (a derivative of the Soviet Tochka) in production and frontline service, and provide capabilities several decades ahead and on par with the most capable tactical ballistic missiles in the world. The larger KN-23 in particular is a hypersonic missile with very high manoeuvrability – one which both South Korea and Japan have reported their sophisticated U.S.-supplied air defences failed even track making interception extremely difficult.[14] The missile closely resembles the Russian Iskander platform, and plays a particularly critical role in North Korea’s defence by allowing it to quickly and reliable strike targets deep behind enemy lines such as air bases and command centres.[15] Analysts have in the past highlighted that the missile poses an excellent counter to the deployment of new F-35 stealth fighters by South Korea, as while the maintenance intensive jets spend a great deal of time on the ground they will present ludicrous targets for Korean missile strikes.[16]
www.dprk360.com Heavy Rocket Artillery Systems on Parade Source: Korean Central News Agency
North Korea’s two new tactical missiles are seen to largely compensate for its lack of a modern air force, the one glaring gap in its otherwise comprehensive military modernisation efforts – but also in some respects its strength given the very high cost of operating modern fighter aircraft and the arguably much greater cost effectiveness of developing state-of-the-art missiles domestically. These missiles were complemented by a very wide range of new rocket artillery systems, many of them never seen before, which provide a cheaper means of carrying out major strikes on military facilities and, if needed, against population centres, all across South Korea. North Korea’s KN-09 rocket artillery system previously set a world range record in 2013 at 200km, which was later eclipsed by the KN-25 unveiled in 2019 which holds the record today with a range of over 400km.[17] The KN-25 was on parade accompanied by multiple unknown platforms which appear to be lighter variants of a similar design.
www.dprk360.com Long Range Surface to Air Missile Batteries on Parade Source: Korean Central News Agency
A further new weapons system, which is more specifically intended for aerial warfare, was an unnamed new long range surface to air missile system bearing some resemblance to the Russian S-400 platform. North Korea managed to move past its reliance on Soviet supplied S-200 air defence systems around the year 2016, as while the older system had a very formidable range it lacked the mobility or the sophisticated sensors needed to remain viable against the U.S. or South Korean air attacks. The Pyongae-5 surface to air missile was widely compared to the Russian S-300, and its unveiling promised to make incursions into Korean airspace far more difficult for enemy aircraft given its very modern design. Although the Pyongae-5 took centre stage at North Korea’s last parade in September 2018, it was replaced by a newer and larger system which appears to be its next generation successor. A move between generations of sophisticated long range air defence systems in such a short period is a sign of very concentrated investment in research and development in the field, and possibly the purchases of some related technologies from Russia or China to speed up the development process. The new missile system is expected to have a longer engagement range exceeding 200km, more potent electronic warfare countermeasures and sensors, and the ability to engage more targets simultaneously. Its deployment is significant given the very high reliance of the U.S. Military, and Western militaries in general, on air attacks to facilitate any kind of large-scale offensive operation.
www.dprk360.com North Korean Special Forces on Parade Source: Korean Central News Agency
While these were hardly the only takeaways from North Korea’s new military parade, with new battle tanks, the presence of Hwasong-12 ‘Guam Killer’ ballistic missile, an almost complete phasing out of Soviet-style uniforms, and the unveiling of a range of new combat vehicles and tank destroyers all being noteworthy, the weapons systems mentioned above have the greatest implications for the East Asian state’s strategic position. A higher proportion of weapons systems displayed at the parade were entirely new designs, never before seen, than at any prior military parade in North Korean history. Indeed, if the parade of 2020 is compared to that of September 2011, the final one under the leadership of Chairman Kim Jong Il, the country’s military today is almost totally unrecognisable in terms of the uniforms, hardware and even the marching style used – the only exception being the military aircraft flying overhead which are not expected to be replaced for some time.
Romyong Street – Opened in 2017 in Central Pyongyang Source: Korean Friendship Association USA
North Korea’s ability to carry out such a comprehensive modernisation of its military inventory strongly supports multiple South Korean reports that the rate of the country’s economic growth is being drastically underestimated[18] – with indicators from construction to the sharp and clearly observable annual growth in motor traffic all pointing to this. The displaying of the Hwasong-15 and Pukkuksong-4, and the unveiling of an entirely new intercontinental range ballistic missile design altogether, is a major embarrassment to the Donald Trump administration which undermines its much needed claim to a foreign policy victory, although its importance is inevitably being downplayed in light of upcoming presidential elections. Furthermore, with the new ICBM design almost certainly in need of at least one flight test, the opting of carrying this out, which would be interpreted in the U.S. as a provocation that the administration would struggle to downplay, provides Pyongyang with considerable leverage to press further for concessions and a partial lifting of UN economic sanctions in exchange for holding back on a further test and agreeing to a freeze on further production of strategic weapons. While the Hwasong-15 served as an effective guarantee of Korean security from a U.S. attack, North Korea has drastically improved its deterrence capabilities in the almost three years since it was test fired, while also increasingly seeking to use its weapons program, and specifically its ability to embarrass American administrations with conspicuous missile tests, to gain leverage in negotiations for a deal that will further boost its economy.
- ‘North Korea’s monstrous new missile is a reminder of Trump’s failure to contain the regime,’ Washington Post, October 12, 2020.Ward, Alex, ‘North Korea has unveiled new weapons, showing Trump failed to tame its nuclear program,’ Vox, October 13, 2020. ↑
- Choe, Sang-Hun. ‘North Korea Stages Huge Military Parade — Without Its ICBMs,’ New York Times, September 9, 2018. ↑
- Panda, Ankit, ‘Exclusive: North Korea Has Continued Ballistic Missile Launcher Production in 2018, Per US Intelligence,’ The Diplomat, June 30, 2018.Panda, Ankit, ‘US Intelligence: North Korea Is Continuing to Produce ICBMs,’ The Diplomat, July 31, 2018. ↑
- Warrick, Joby and Nakashima, Ellen and Fifield, Anna, ‘North Korea now making missile-ready nuclear weapons, U.S. analysts say,’ Washington Post, August 8, 2017.Lewis, Jeffrey, ‘The Game Is Over, and North Korea Has Won,’ Foreign Policy, August 9, 2017. ↑
- Lewis, Jeffrey, ‘The Game Is Over, and North Korea Has Won,’ Foreign Policy, August 9, 2017. ↑
- ‘U.S. Intelligence Confirms: North Korean Hwasong-15 Nuclear Tipped Missile Can Target Entire American Mainland,’ Military Watch Magazine, July 14, 2019. ↑
- Press Conference by President Trump, Capella Hotel, Singapore, June 12, 2018. ↑
- Mullen, Mike and Nunn, Sam and Mount, Adam, A Sharper Choice on North Korea: Engaging China for a Stable Northeast Asia, Council on Foreign Relations, Independent Task Force Report No. 74, September 2016.Background Briefing by Senior Administration Officials on the Visit of President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China, Washington D.C., April 4, 2017. ↑
- Kim, Hong Nack, ‘U.S.-North Korea Relations under the Obama Administration: Problems and Prospects,’ North Korean Review, vol. 6, no. 1, Spring 2010 (p. 23-24, 28). ↑
- Friedman, Uri, ‘The Day Denuclearisation Died,’ The Atlantic, July 2, 2019. ↑
- Lee, Joyce, ‘North Korea says it successfully tested new submarine-launched ballistic missile,’ Reuters, October 2, 2019. ↑
- Johnson, Jesse, ‘North Korea calls Bolton “warmonger” and says halting missile tests means giving up right to self-defense,’ Japan Times, May 27, 2019. ↑
- Remarks by President Trump and Prime Minister Abe of Japan in Joint Press Conference, Akasaka Palace, Tokyo, Japan, 3.02PM. JST, May 27, 2019. ↑
- ‘Radar Evading Ballistic Missiles from North Korea? AEGIS Air Defence System Fails to Track New Projectiles,’ Military Watch Magazine, May 15, 2019. ↑
- ‘What Is Special About North Korea’s New “Iskander-Like” Tactical Ballistic Missiles – And Why Pyongyang’s Adversaries Are So Concerned,’ Military Watch Magazine, July 28, 2019. ↑
- ‘How North Korea Plans to Counter the F-35 – With Guided Artillery and Tactical Missiles,’ Military Watch Magazine, August 13, 2019. ↑
- ‘North Korea Demonstrates Range of Lethal New Rocket Artillery Systems with Major Exercises – Projectiles Fired Out to Sea,’ Military Watch Magazine, March 3, 2019. ↑
- ‘Former unification minister criticizes Bank of Korea statistics on North Korean growth rate,’ Hankyoreh, January 1, 2019. ↑
A.B. Abrams is the author of: “Power and Primacy: the history of western intervention in Asia”
I am an expert on the international relations, recent history and geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific region. I have published widely on defense and politics related subjects under various pseudonyms. I am proficient in Chinese, Korean and other regional languages.
A rather surprising display of North Korean power. What is also surprising is the fact that North Korea has the scientific and manufacturing capability to produce all of this. Perhaps she received a helping hand from someone, who wanted to ensure that the country was not overrun by the US.
Readers know that North Korea has a border with China. Most don’t know that it also has a very short border with Russia, and that the Russian city of Vladivostok is quite close to the North Korean border. No doubt this fact is very tempting for the US, not to mention the additional fact that North Korea has 7 trillion dollars worth of minerals, more than double that of Afghanistan, where the US currently has troops.
Yes North Korea shares a very short border with Russia – and a rather long coastline.
An interview with Dmitry Orlov [Essential Saker IV, p140] mentions that Ukie rocket scientists have been behind DPRK’s remarkable advances in that field, “as well as its unlikely, exotic choice of rocket fuel: unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine”.
There’s several reports about the humongous rare earths deposit, “Jongju site” (discovered 2013?) potentially “double the known world reserves” – with South Korea studies stating its a hoax (what else would they say?).
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/korea-watch/billions-ground-race-harvest-north-koreas-rare-earth-reserves-50137
Regardless there is a UN resolution 2270 which in 2016 specifically bans anyone dealing with NK rare earths. Go figure.
I find it amusing that during the hunt for Saddam’s WMD’s, North Korea was waving its ballistic technology about, practically saying “over here! We have WMD’s!”
(of course at that time the DPRK had no oil, little strategic interest, and no rare earths)
“Perhaps she received a helping hand from someone, who wanted to ensure that the country was not overrun by the US.”
North Korea may have received the know how from Ukraine of all places:
https://time.com/5128398/the-missile-factory/
This is a good thing. The Anglo Zionists received a well deserved blow back for destroying my country, Ukraine, along with all other countries! I am personally extremely happy!
Good points. It is the elite using up the US for the greedy agenda by dragging the US through all these wars. Who will they cozy up after the US is used up?
B.F, your mention of Korea’s “very short border” with Russia reminds me of the novel, Tobit Transplanted. Tobit is an ancient Persian tale, rewritten as a semi-Biblical Jewish story about Tobias and the Angel, then re-rewritten by Stella Benson around 1930, about post-revolutionary Russian emigrants to Korea. Tobias sets out to collect a longstanding family debt, and meets an Indian Lawyer with a London degree who helps him. Russian, Korean and other temperaments are amusingly and perceptively contrasted.
A formal and informal bloc against US hegemony has been rising for quite some time. Instead of reviewing old presumptions and methods, the US/NATO keeps clinging to their hegemonic approach. But since they can’t undo reality, that is being overtaken in economic and military power, they use they deflect, deny and block out reality.
The usual methods are using their corporate state-power over media, academy and security towards a massive propaganda aimed at keeping the “opposing” side out.
Baffling, because in the end there will be war.
Not so baffling, darkmoon. It’s just the way it is. US “diplomacy” is dead and gone. Pompeo is totally compromised by his Zionist propensity to consider Iran as the enemy. Not so surprising, since he thinks Trump is the new King Cyrus, who will bring the Jews back to the so-called Holy Land. Yes, in the end, there will be war…
Hi Dark Moon and Tommy.
I do not think there will be war. i have done three senarios for the comming US elections. Of course they are just my opinions based on nothing but my own instincts. They consider what may happen as a consequence.
Part 1 Military Coup: When a country reaches a point where no political figure can command the population and the breakdown of law and order is a threat to national security the choice is between a continued oligarcy (with the support of the military) or a military takeover. In the case of the USA that would make General Mark Alexander Milley Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a major player.
html file of regime change. http://www.cowdisley.com/war/regimechange2.html
At 62 Milley is due to retire. Milley has sufficient medals to prevent his survival should he fall into a swimming pool. He is not alone in that regard as most high ranking US military officers would also suffer a similar fate. https://youtu.be/rR786qcBUaY or http://www.cowdisley.com/videos/coup.mp4
Part 2 Biden wins: Part 2 of the series ‘The Coup’, ‘Biden Wins’, and ‘Trump Wins’. This series examines what may be the consequences of these senarios. This is the Biden Wins senario https://youtu.be/M6eXOc1VvaI or http://www.cowdisley.com/videos/bidenwins.mp4
Part 3 Trump wins:Part 3 of the series ‘The Coup’, ‘Biden Wins’, and ‘Trump Wins’. This series examines what may be the consequences of these senarios. This is the Trump Wins senario. https://youtu.be/kVh3yOCN5YM or http://www.cowdisley.com/videos/trumpwins.mp4
These senarios point to little more than the decline (in one way or another) to what Lavrov considers in his previous comments to the infantilization of the west.
I must say here that my occupation is as an artist/witer and as such see the infantizalition of ‘western art’ in a similar context to its infantilization of diplomacy as well as the destruction of educational standards. Thus I did a video to make this point. http://www.cowdisley.com/videos/artfuture.mp4 or https://youtu.be/A2drSzBXYg0
These links:
http://www.cowdisley.com/videos/artfuture.mp4
or
https://youtu.be/A2drSzBXYg0
are not working.
I have never understood why both Russia and China did not put effort in helping build North Korea in the way that the US did with Japan an South Korea. Of course, they are just puppets of the US but both or either Russia and China could have contributed to North Korea’s economic development and maintained her sovereignty as an equal partner. Are cultural and tourism relations between these three nations? Do Russia and China still adhere to any sanctions against North Korea? If so, why?
From what I’ve been told, North Korea in addition to it’s plentiful natural resources is acting quite beautiful. The people are friendly and very decent. Not like here where every young person had grafiteed their bodies with tattoos and piercings. I’ll never forget watching a travel show of two American surfer dudes, out of all people, who went there and we’re so impressed with the place, and overwhelming ly touched by the North Koreans people’s kindness that they cried when they had to leave.
Can Russia and China for more to take it out of its isolated pariah standing?
I don’t think that the developments in the defence sector of DPRK comes with their own economic power. Surely, Russia and China are helping them because NK is a buffer state.
Maybe their economy is also in a good situation. We learn about NK mostly through biased and corrupt western media outlets.
https://off-guardian.org/2018/07/30/the-faces-of-north-korea/
A friendly video about daily life in NK; by a sorely missed spokesman for ordinary people around the world, the late Andre Vltchek.
Huge numbers of Chinese tourists normally descend on North Korea every summer (not this year, I assume, because of COVID 19). China’s aid to the DPRK, though, even in the Korean War, was late and reluctant. In “Enter The Dragon: China At War In Korea”, Russell Spurr describes Mao as saying that “when the lips are cut away the teeth feel cold” in finally agreeing to send the troops, because he knew that if North Korea fell China would be next in line. And even then Chinese and Soviet intelligence officials spied on each other as much as on the North Koreans themselves.
It isn’t a great exaggeration to say that even in the heyday of the Sino Soviet early cold war pre split rapprochement, neither of them was very keen on the establishment of a genuinely powerful state in North Korea.
I have never understood why both Russia and China did not put effort in helping build North Korea in the way that the US did with Japan an South Korea.
Put simply, both Russia & China had their own major internal problems to deal with:
*Large portions of both China, and Russia/USSR were destroyed by civil war (China) and WW2 (both)
*USSR was more focused on securing its borders against NATO
*Mao Zedong was trying to rebuild Chinese society from the grassroots
*Economic decay of USSR & China during early 1980s
*Collapse of USSR in 1992
*Russia fighting 2 wars against Chechen terrorists in 1990s
*China reforming its economy during 1990s, while trying to clamp down on corruption and reduce poverty
It was only during the 2000s where Beijing & Moscow were in a position to really help Pyongyang:
*China had money from sustained economic growth
*Vladimir Putin got Russia’s corruption & debt under control, & defeated most of the terrorists
Trading with South Korea was, and is much more profitable than with North Korea, so both Beijing & Moscow had to be careful not to alienate the Seoul government. Diplomacy, which both Beijing & Moscow emphasised, allowed them to:
*Develop their respective economies
*Buy time for both China & Russia to earn money & fix their own internal problems, & for Pyongyang to assimilate any technology transfers
*Lay the foundations for both Pyongyang & Seoul to make peace, thus reducing the need to arm & fund Pyongyang
Can Russia and China for more to take it out of its isolated pariah standing?
That is up to Junior Kim to decide. Neither Beijing nor Moscow can dictate Pyongyang’s policies, unless they invade & conquer North Korea; then what? Junior Kim will no doubt have to change the government’s attitude & policies in order for Russian & Chinese diplomats to start the process of removing UN sanctions. The “New Yalu River Bridge” is an example of trying to increase cooperation & trade, but that is being delayed by Junior Kim demanding Beijing pay all costs.
It is true that Beijing & Moscow cannot & will not allow North Korea to become another US army base. At the same time, Beijing & Moscow cannot afford to send Pyongyang blank cheques.
Reads as if Andrei Martyanov is the ghost writer.
Thank you I will take that as a compliment, haha
Take a look at that photo of the Pyongyang skyline. Notice something (apart from all the greenery)? That’s right, there isn’t a single old building, though Pyongyang is an ancient city, the historical capital of Korea. Why aren’t there any old buildings? Because the Amerikastani Empire occupied Pyongyang in 1950 during MacArthur’s drive North of the 39th parallel and was then forced to abandon the city after the smashing Chinese People’s Volunteers victories at Chongchon and Chosin, it demolished everything it could and burnt what it couldn’t. It then spent the next three years continually bombing the city to rubble, apart from (as is now confirmed from declassified files) carrying out biological war on North Korea and China. One in four North Korean citizens was killed in that war. Even that was not enough, and by early 1951 MacArthur was demanding the right to drop nuclear weapons all over North Korea and Northeast China, apart from seeding the territory south of the Yalu river with radioactive waste. A thoroughly alarmed Truman ended up removing MacArthur, but North Korea had learnt the lesson. Even if it hadn’t, the fate of countries like Libya and Iraq that were disarmed and then invaded by Amerikastan is clear in North Korean calculations. Remember how Bush had included North Korea with Iran and Iraq in some mythical “axis of evil” while unleashing the ultimate evil of the invasion of Iraq? North Korea remembers.
Besides, there is this element of unspoken racism when considering North Korean research and development. The DPRK aren’t illiterate Neolithic savages; the country actually has a good enough talent pool to create its own nuclear arsenal and to survive the 1990s. I do not agree that Chinese and/or Russian input is even necessary, especially the latter, because today’s Russia isn’t in the business of providing military aid gratis. And if either did provide aid, the first thing Pyongyang might ask for is an updated aircraft inventory. Though it might now just leapfrog that and go straight to a drone based air force instead. Indeed, what surprised me is the lack of drones in the parade, not the new weapons fielded.
It’s also significant that Trumpets in online arguments defending der Twitterführer always wamble on about Iran and China, but their silence about North Korea is nothing short of deafening.
Thank you for this information. Every day we learn how genocidal American terrorists have been throughout their short but bloody history. They overtook the Nazis long long ago.
I wish North Koreans all the best. This world needs versatility. The bleakness of the American subculture is making me sick – it is everywhere. Colonel Cassad has a nice post with a Youtuber from NK. They seem so innocent and pure. I know it is heavily monitored and staged but still. I miss the innocence.
Compare an average North Korean to poor Bill de Blasio’s daughter’s photo on NY subway which you can lookup on the net. You would be comparing a heavenly being to a tormented soul .
Dear Marko,
I agree – just one small detail. American empire is simply a continuation of the Nazi one – Hitler never really lost.
What is your criteria to state that the “American empire” is a continuation of Hitler or National Socialism? I might consider you claiming it is a continuation of say the British Empire, but how in the hell is it “simply” a continuation of National-Socialist Germany?
“We bombed NK until there was nothing left to bomb”. — U$ Military spokesman.
As you say, that helps to explain why there are so many new buildings and broad straight roads in that photo; and also in Andre Vltchek’s video on daily life in modern NK.
“What does not kill me makes me stronger” — Nietzsche
“Who keeps me up to the mark? My bitterest enemy” — Shaw
Like the French rebuilding St.Malo and Ste.Nazaire after D-Day.
Jeff Kaye proves germ war by US against Korea and China ( https://medium.com/@jeff_kaye ) and he’s also on twitter. Solid guy, solid research.
I moot his work as partially explanatory of the NK determination and realpolitik views of their enemy. It was not just LeMay burning the place down, they flew BW into China too.
Saker might want to do an interview or post some of Jeff’s discoveries (much of which is archival from the same people who did the crimes…)
More interesting still is the Korean role in founding Hezbollah, and in supporting Syria during its war with terrorism and in the 70s and 80s at war with Israel including with boots on the ground
Abrams covers this well in a specific chapter on North Korean and Ameican proxy wars in his new book (the one shown at the top in the article – Immovable Object)