Last Updated on October 13, 2021
A remarkable video out of North Korea shows a brutal show-of-strength demonstration by military troops before Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korean military troops during a defense exhibition were destroying bricks, breaking chains, and conducting an exercise they call “Self-Defence 2021” before their leader Kim Jong Un, and other North Korean high level officials. The exhibition was for the 76th anniversary of the founding of the Worker’s Party of Korea (WPK).
This demonstration at the Defence Development Exhibition was bit intense. Video broadcast today on North Korean TV. pic.twitter.com/zehpI6EAEd
— Martyn Williams (@martyn_williams) October 12, 2021
According to analysis of the event, this is the first time that the North Koreans have opted offer show of military capabilities as opposed to an annual military parade:
Pyongyang’s decision to hold an exhibition rather than a large-scale military parade appeared to have the aim of showing off military force while bolstering the image of North Korea as a “normal state.” In effect, it advertised the need for stronger defensive capabilities at home and abroad through the exhibition format, which is recognized by the international community as an ordinary form of economic activity.
It also bolstered its own recent demands to stop applying a double standard — where its own missiles are seen as “provocations,” while South Korean missiles are referred to as a “deterrent” — by avoiding a parade as a form of military activity regarded as provocative by the outside world.
“Today’s grand-scale exhibition, a crystallization of our Party’s revolutionary defence policy and its robust viability, is an epoch-making demonstration of our national strength no less significant than a large-scale military parade,” said dictator Kim Jong Un. In the video, Kim Jong Un appears to look noticeably healthier than he previously had in recent years.
Questions surrounding his health were raised when he was reported to have died following a “botched” heart surgery last year. “North Korea’s Supreme Leader/dictator Kim Jong-un has reportedly died, or is on his death bed with no hope for recuperation — according to media outlets in China and Japan,” reported TMZ.
#WATCH: Pres. Trump on Kim Jong Un: “I wish him very, ya know, good luck…They came out with very serious medical reports; nobody’s confirmed that…When CNN comes out with a report, I don't put much credence in it." pic.twitter.com/sQsORCZ67N
— Bobby Dupree (@bobbydupree) April 21, 2020
