Recent signs indicate North Korea is making preparations for a military parade to mark the upcoming Ninth Congress of the ruling Workers' Party.
38 North, a U.S.-based outlet specializing in North Korea, reported on Monday that commercial satellite imagery taken the same day of the Mirim Parade Training Ground in eastern Pyongyang showed hundreds of soldiers practicing marching formations, including in the shape of emblems of the ruling party.
The North has mobilized troops and vehicles to the Mirim training ground for every military parade preparation in the past.
It remains uncertain whether the regime will showcase its intercontinental ballistic missile(ICBM) and other strategic assets this time around.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung-joon said Tuesday that it is unclear if a military parade will actually be held, but the preparations at the Mirim training ground or Kim Il Sung Square are understood as being conducted at the civilian level.
Though an exact date for the North's party congress has yet to be disclosed, the South Korean government has speculated that it could take place in early to mid-February.