North Korea May Hold Military Parade on Eve of Olympics: Analysts

A display of military might by Pyongyang could threaten that fragile detente between the two Koreas.

In this July 27 2013 file photo, North Korean soldiers turn and look towards their leader Kim Jong Un during a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice in Pyongyang, North Korea.

(Photo: AP)

North Korea may be preparing to hold a military parade on the eve of next month's winter Olympics in South Korea, analysts and diplomats say, even as the two countries have sought to mend ties.

The North's continued development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles in defiance of the United Nations Security Council resolutions has spurred more sanctions and talk of possible military strikes by US officials.

Western diplomats in Pyongyang have said some international defence officials received invitations to a 70th anniversary commemoration of the Korean People’s Army on 8 February.

Recent commercial satellite imagery shows formations of North Korean troops marching at a parade training ground, said Scott LaFoy, an analyst with the website NK Pro, which monitors North Korea.

"The parade appears to involve 28 formations of infantry or other military personnel, a traditional military band, and possibly additional personnel," LaFoy wrote in an analysis of the satellite imagery. Some military vehicles could also be involved, he added.

If North Korea conducts a large military demonstration on 8 February, it would come a day before the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea.

That event will see athletes from the two sides march under a single flag, in a demonstration of unity after kicking off official talks for the first time in two years in January.

A display of military might by Pyongyang could threaten that fragile detente.

The Mirim Parade Training Ground, where the formations were spotted, is typically only very active before parades, which in past years have been used to showcase the North's growing missile arsenal, LaFoy said.

The planned parade appears to be smaller than last year's massive display, and imagery shows no evidence of large vehicles of the type that might carry missiles, he said.

(Published in an arrangement with Reuters.)

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