North Korea’s military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the regime’s Foundation Day is likely to be very similar to the one staged in February honoring the Army.
Reuters quoted Jeffery Lewis, a North Korea expert, as saying on Saturday that at the current state, the parade set for Sunday “looks pretty similar if not smaller than the one in February.”
Lewis, who is the director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at California’s Middlebury Institute of International Studies, based his assessment on commercial satellite imagery of North Korea’s Mirim Parade Training Ground gathered by Planet Labs on August 22nd.
Lewis said the imagery spotted tanks, self-propelled artillery, infantry carriers, anti-aircraft missiles and rocket launchers. He said the first 99 vehicles are identical and were followed by some 20 short-range missiles.
Lewis said there could be more weapons hidden in the sheds, but said at this point it is “just speculation.”
Reuters said that so far there is no sign of the controversial intercontinental ballistic missiles that are believed to be capable of targeting the U.S. mainland.