SEOUL • Nuclear-armed North Korea unveiled a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) at a military parade in Pyongyang, state media showed yesterday, in a calculated show of strength days before Mr Joe Biden's inauguration as United States president.
The display came after the five-yearly congress of the ruling Workers' Party, where leader Kim Jong Un decried the US as his country's "foremost principal enemy".
A grinning Mr Kim oversaw the parade on Thursday evening, wearing a black leather coat and fur hat as he watched mounted cavalry, specialist infantry, artillery and tanks roll through Kim Il Sung Square.
The troops' breath condensed in the cold winter air and none of the thousands of participants were seen wearing masks.
"The world's most powerful weapon, submarine-launched ballistic missile, entered the square one after another, powerfully demonstrating the might of the revolutionary armed forces," said the official KCNA news agency.
Four of the SLBMs with black and white cones were driven past, footage on state television showed, and Professor Park Won-gon of Handong Global University in South Korea described them as "the North's ultimate nuclear weapon".
The North has shown off earlier, smaller SLBMs previously and broadcast footage of a test launch, but it was not clear whether they were fired from a submarine or an underwater platform.
A working SLBM on a nuclear-powered submarine would be a strategic game changer, enabling Pyongyang to launch a surprise attack from close to the US or carry out a strike even if its land-based forces have been destroyed.
At the congress, Mr Kim said the North had completed plans for a nuclear submarine. But any such vessel is likely to be years away from going into service.
Analysts say the North is using the party meeting and military display to send the incoming administration in Washington a finely calculated message of strength in an attempt to extract concessions.
Mr Kim and US President Donald Trump had a tumultuous relationship, engaging in mutual insults and threats of war before an extraordinary diplomatic bromance.
But little progress was made, with the process deadlocked after a February 2019 summit in Hanoi broke down over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return.
The North is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
