North's Kim celebrates army's birthday with daughter

North Korea

Published: 08 Feb. 2023, 17:53

North's Kim celebrates army's birthday with daughter

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (right), his daughter Kim Ju-ae (center) and his wife Ri Sol-ju (left) sit at a banquet celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army (KPA), with KPA generals standing behind them in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a banquet following a visit to a North Korean army barracks with his daughter Kim Ju-ae on Tuesday, in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army (KPA), state media reported Wednesday.

“Our army was able to win the fulfilling call of the times and history as the strongest army in the world,” the North Korean leader said in a speech at the banquet.

Photos of the banquet show that it was held inside what appears to be the renovated lobby of the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang.

According to Kim, the KPA has inherited the “the fighting spirit of death-defying resistance the first generation of the revolutionary armed forces.”

“I never doubt that you will be as brave as always, dedicating your lives to the eternal prosperity of the country and the wellbeing of the people,” he added.

Kim Jong-un made no comments directed at South Korea or the United States.

The North’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that Kim visited the KPA barracks to commend the troops’ efforts accompanied by “his daughter,” referring to Kim Ju-ae.

Photos released by state media showed Kim Ju-ae seated between Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju, with KPA generals standing in a row behind the family as they posed for the camera.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, his wife Ri Sol-ju and daughter Kim Ju-ae are applauded by military officers at a banquet in Pyongyang in photos released by state media on Wednesday. Kim's sister Kim Yo-jong, dressed in white, is visible at the far left side of the photo. [YONHAP]

Kim Jong-un’s powerful sister, Kim Yo-jong, was also visible in zoomed-out photos of the banquet, which was attended by a large number of the North’s military brass.

Photos of Ri showed her wearing a necklace with a pendant in the shape of the Hwasong-17, the North’s longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile.

Photos of Kim Jong-un presiding over a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party Central Military Commission, released by the KCNA the previous day, showed a flag featuring a stylized version of the Hwasong-17, underlining the symbolic importance of a weapon that security experts view as being key to Pyongyang’s asymmetric military strategy to make up for the weakness of its conventional forces.

The North’s state media has not released photos of a military parade expected to be held in Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang to mark the KPA’s founding, preparations for which have been captured in recent satellite images.

All of the North’s military parades since 2020 have been held at night, making it likely that the parade will be held Wednesday evening.

Intelligence communities are eyeing the expected parade to find out if Kim will deliver messages against South Korea or the United States and reveal new weapons.

Experts interviewed by the Korea JoongAng Daily have said they are watching coverage of the parade for new weapons, such as new short-range missiles, upgraded submarine-launched ballistic missiles from its Pukguksong series, a “super-large multiple-rocket launcher” that can be equipped with nuclear warheads or unmanned aerial vehicles.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO, MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]