North Korean state TV has begun broadcasting its military parade program. So far, no actual parade. Things are ramping up, with a bunch of sweeping drone shots.
Kim Jong Un enters to fireworks:
No masks or social distancing at North Korea's military parade among participants, leaders, or spectators.
Kim Jong Un, who is visibly crying this speech, declares that not a single person in North Korea has gotten Covid-19. Needless to say, it's impossible for even North Korean officials to verify a claim like that, and is almost certainly wrong.
Kim Jong Un spoke for over 25 minutes. He vowed to strengthen his country's self-defense and war deterrence. He also expressed hope for better relations with South Korea.
North Korea bringing out some bigger weapons systems now:
More big missile systems coming out now:
With all this hardware rolling through, Kim Il Sung Square is filling with exhaust fumes. Still some good visibility for open source analysts though thanks to these nice drone shots, I suspect.
North Korea has displayed a new submarine-launched ballistic missile, Yonhap reports. Many analysts suspected that would happen at this parade. https://twitter.com/YonhapNews/status/1314899656241946624
At the parade, North Korea also displayed an apparently new ICBM that many analysts suspect may be Kim Jong Un's promised "new strategic weapon." https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/1314901242271989760
For more details on weapons/etc, follow the people mentioned in this thread. Truly amazing to observe in real-time the work that open source analysts do during events like this. https://twitter.com/GeorgeWHerbert/status/1314750425061421056
You can follow @GalloVOA.
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