North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his young daughter took center stage at a huge military parade, fueling speculation that she's being primed as a future leader of the isolated country as her father showed off his latest, largest nuclear missiles.
Wednesday night's parade in the capital, Pyongyang, featured the newest hardware in Kim's growing nuclear arsenal, including what experts said was possibly a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile he could test in the coming months.
The parade marked the 75th anniversary of the founding of North Korea's army and came after weeks of preparations involving huge numbers of troops and civilians mobilized to glorify Kim's rule and his relentless push to cement his country's status as a nuclear power. Thousands of goose-stepping soldiers marched through the square, chanting "Defend with your life, Paektu Bloodline," referring to the Kim family's lineage named after a volcano that North Koreans consider sacred.
Those missiles were followed by what appeared to be another type of long-range missile encased in canisters and carried on nine-axle vehicles. It wasn't immediately clear whether the missiles were actual rockets. But analysts say the use of canisters strongly implied a solid-fuel missile, most likely an ICBM which North Korea has been trying to develop for years.
The parade came after Kim met with his top military brass on Monday and ordered an expansion of combat exercises, as he continues to escalate an already provocative run in weapons tests in the face of deepening tensions with his neighbors and Washington. The intensified tests were punctuated by fiery statements and a new law threatening preemptive nuclear attacks against its neighbors and the United States in a broad range of scenarios.During a major political conference in December, he called for an "exponential increase" in the country's nuclear warheads, mass production of battlefield tactical nuclear weapons targeting "enemy" South Korea and the development of more advanced ICBMs.
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