North Korea has put on its biggest display yet of long-range missiles at a parade to mark a key military anniversary, as speculation grows that the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, is grooming his daughter as a possible successor.
State media said the nuclear-armed North displayed multiple long-range missiles at a parade late on Wednesday to mark the 75th anniversary of its army, with analysts saying they included what appeared to be a new, solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The parade was attended by Kim’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, and was held a day after she accompanied Kim on a visit to an army base and at an official dinner to mark the military anniversary.
Photos released by KCNA showed Ju-ae seated between her father and her mother, Ri Sol-ju, and surrounded by military officers at the banquet, thought to have taken place at a hotel in Pyongyang.
Kim and his daughter wore black suits and white dress shirts and held hands as they walked down a red carpet alongside Ri. Kim told guests that it was his “greatest honour” to be the supreme commander of an army that is “fulfilling the call of the times and history as the strongest army in the world”.
The presence of Kim’s second child, who is believed to be aged nine or 10, at public events has fuelled speculation that she is being primed for a future role in the regime, and possibly the leadership.
The missiles at Wednesday’s parade demonstrated the country’s “greatest” nuclear strike ability, the official KCNA news agency said on Thursday, although many experts believe the regime has yet to develop a nuclear warhead small enough to be placed on a missile.
The record-breaking number of weapons North Korea tested last year included those that could theoretically carry nuclear warheads and strike targets as far away as the US mainland.
Satellite imagery from the US-based firm Maxar Technologies showed military vehicles and crowds in Kim Il-sung Square in the capital, Pyongyang, on Wednesday night.
The array of hardware reportedly included as many as 11 Hwasong-17s – North Korea’s biggest ICBM to date – followed by what appeared to be four solid-fuel ICBMs. Some analysts said the solid-fuel missiles might have made an appearance at a 2017 parade and had so far not been tested.
Most of the regime’s biggest ballistic missiles use liquid fuel, which requires them to be loaded with propellant at their launch site – a time-consuming process.
“This is cumulatively more ICBM launchers than we’ve ever seen before at a North Korean parade,” Ankit Panda of the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said, adding that if equipped with multiple warheads, such a large number of missiles could be enough to saturate existing US missile defence systems.
In December, Kim supervised a test of a “high-thrust solid-fuel motor” for a new strategic weapon he said would be developed in the “shortest span of time”, which experts said likely referred to a solid-fuel ICBM.
The use of solid fuel would boost North Korea’s attack capability, since it offers greater mobility for missiles and reduces their launch preparation time, making them more difficult to detect and destroy in mid-flight.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said Kim had “let North Korea’s expanding tactical and long-range missile forces speak for themselves”.
He added: “The regime has staked its legitimacy on nuclear weapons at the expense of diplomacy and the economy. Military parades largely serve to justify Kim’s policies to a domestic political audience. The message Pyongyang wants to send internationally, demonstrating its capabilities to deter and coerce, will probably come in the form of solid-fuel missile tests and detonation of a miniaturised nuclear device.”
State media showed Kim, dressed in a black coat and fedora, smiling and raising his hand as he watched thousands of troops march past.
The first public appearance of Kim’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, came in November last year, when she joined her father at the test-launch of a Hwasong-17 missile, and she has since been seen at a meeting with military scientists and at a ballistic missile inspection.
Some observers believe Kim is using her to remind the world he has no intention of giving up his nuclear arsenal, viewing it as his best insurance against any attempt to topple his regime and bring an end to decades of rule by the Kim dynasty.
In a sign of her possible elevation in public life, state media referred to Ju-ae as Kim’s “respected” daughter – having previously described her as his “beloved” daughter – according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.