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| ▲ What is believed to be a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile appears during a military parade at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on the night of Feb. 8, 2023, to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the Korea People's Army, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended the parade. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Commanding officers of the (North) Korean People's Army (KPA) pay tribute to their late leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il during a visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang on Feb. 9, 2023, on the occasion of the KPA's 75th founding anniversary, in this photo released by the North's Korean Central News Agency. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) NK leader-photo session
(LEAD) N.K. leader calls for stronger military power in photo session with parade participants
(ATTN: ADDS photo, more info in paras 5-6, 9-11)
By Yi Wonju
SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for bolstering the country's military strength at an unprecedented pace, during a photo session with the participants of a military parade held earlier this week, Pyongyang's state media reported Friday.
Speaking on Thursday, Kim stressed that the prosperity of the North depends on a "powerful army" and noted "one can demonstrate one's dignity and honor only when one is strong," according to the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
He added that suppressing the "increasingly brutal imperialist tyranny by force" requires its army to "grow stronger at an incomparably faster speed than that of the past history," the KCNA said in an English-language report.
Kim also praised the participants for glorifying the military parade as an event to be "specially recorded in history," saying that it has "made a clearer description of the prestige and greatness, high honor and rosy future of our state."
Top military officials attended the photo session, including Ri Pyong-chol and Ri Yong-gil, who both serve as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party.
Kim last held such a mass photo session early last month with members of the Korean Children's Union.
The North held the nighttime parade Wednesday to celebrate the 75th founding anniversary of its armed forces, during which it displayed its key weapons, including Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Kim attended the event along with his wife, Ri Sol-ju, and apparent second child, Ju-ae. State media did not mention whether Kim delivered a speech during the event.
Meanwhile, commanding officers of the North's defense ministry and general officers of the Korean People's Army paid tribute at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of state founder Kim Il-sung and late leader Kim Jong-il are enshrined, the KCNA said in a separate report.
They pledged to follow current leader Kim Jong-un and to fully demonstrate the "tremendous might and heroic spirit of the armed forces," it added.
Kim was not seen at the mausoleum in photos released by the North's state-controlled media.
[https://youtu.be/ans5py6T_6Q]
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