North Korea celebrated its founding with a military parade featuring dump trucks modified to work as rocket launchers
- North Korea celebrated its founding with a military parade featuring tractors and dump trucks.
- The 75th anniversary was attended by delegations from China and Russia.
North Korea celebrated its founding early Saturday in the capital with a military parade that included tractors pulling rocket launchers in front of visiting delegations from China and Russia, the Associated Press reported.
The event, held in the capital of Pyongyang, marked 75 years since the country was founded under then-Premier Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un.
The parade emphasized the "militia" components of North Korea's military in an attempt to demonstrate the country's ability to beat back a foreign invasion.
The parade came a day after North Korea showed off what it claimed was its first "tactical nuclear attack submarine," which — if true — would increase the country's ability to threaten nuclear war against distant foes. At the very least, experts said, it demonstrates Kim's commitment to expanding the reach of North Korea's nuclear program.
The weapons paraded on Saturday were more humble. Photos released by North Korean state media show rows of tractors towing what appear to be rocket launchers.
The parade also featured red dump trucks that were modified to hide missile launchers, an effort to signal "the militia's role as guerilla fighters in a war," according to Reuters.
No nuclear-capable weapons or intercontinental ballistic missiles appeared to be on display, in contrast with a July parade marking North Korea's "victory" in the 1950-53 war that cemented the division of the peninsula.
North Korea also showed off its paramilitary might during its 2021 anniversary. The country's Worker-Peasant Red Guards are believed to have more than 5 million members, The Korea Herald reported, citing a South Korean government estimate. That compares to about 1.3 million people in the North Korean army.