State media reported on September 9 that North Korea had invited visiting Chinese delegates and Russian artists to a paramilitary parade that featured rocket launchers pulled by trucks and tractors. This was leader Kim Jong Un’s most recent attempt to show off his ties with Moscow and Beijing in the face of intensifying tensions with Washington.
The celebration of North Korea’s 75th founding anniversary, which fell on Saturday, started on Friday night in the nation’s capital, Pyongyang. There are expectations that Kim will visit Russia soon for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that may centre on North Korean arms sales to replenish reserves depleted by the Kremlin’s conflict in Ukraine.
