North Korea showcases friends and arms


North Korea marked the 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement with a late-night military parade on Thursday (27 July).

It was an intriguing evening for a couple of reasons. First, the parade’s audience included foreign dignitaries for the first time since 2018:

  • 🇨🇳 China sent Li Hongzhong from the Communist Party’s 24-member Politburo, as Beijing’s first visitor to Pyongyang since COVID, and
  • 🇷🇺 Russia sent Defence Minister Shoigu, the first ever such visit from present-day Russia (Soviet defence chiefs visited previously).

Second, the parade and surrounding festivities featured:

But it’s really the combo of the audience and content that turned heads: China and Russia are both permanent members of the UN Security Council, which has banned North Korean nuclear-capable ballistic missiles since 2006.

And yet here were senior reps from Beijing and Moscow, in downtown Pyongyang, applauding as nuclear-capable ballistic missiles rolled on by.

Intrigue’s take: This is less about North Korea coming out of isolation, and more about Russia going further in. Moscow needs more ammo for its invasion of Ukraine, and Pyongyang seems one of the few willing sellers.

As for China, Li is less senior than Beijing’s last parade rep in 2018, and these reps have applauded North Korean ICBMs before. So sending Li was probably just a low-cost way for Beijing to signal support for its only formal ally, while signalling displeasure regarding US actions in the region.

And North Korea? It gets tacit Chinese and Russian endorsement of its weapons program, plus a dash of solidarity in its struggle with the West, both of which Kim Jong Un will leverage to boost his legitimacy at home.

Also worth noting:

  • In North Korea, the Korean War (triggered by a Northern attack on the South) is known as the Fatherland Liberation War. In South Korea, it’s often the 625 War, reflecting the start date of 25 June. In China, it’s known as the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
  • Russia and China held joint ‘Northern/Interaction-2023’ military drills in waters off the Korean Peninsula earlier this month. The US and South Korea held their largest ever live-fire exercises in May.
Latest Author Articles
Trump’s tariffs, viewed from four cities

Just as he swore to do, Donald Trump signed new executive actions on Saturday, slapping 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and 10% on China. Energy exports from Canada seem to be the sole major carve-out, copping a 10% tariff instead. Now, before we dive in, here’s a sweet term to slip into conversation: strategic empathy. It’s what […]

3 February, 2025
Did China just dethrone OpenAI?

OpenAI dropped the world’s first-ever ‘reasoning’ AI chatbot back in September, called ‘o1’. The Silicon Valley-based pioneer spent vast amounts of cash and time to release this AI bot that can ‘reason’ its way through more complex problems. And notwithstanding OpenAI’s name and founding philosophy, it again kept its coding secret. But last week, China-based […]

27 January, 2025
What’s next for TikTok?

Ultra-popular short-video platform TikTok went offline for its 170 million users on Saturday night, only to then semi-reappear around noon yesterday (Sunday). Of course, teetering on the edge of oblivion just inspired more memorable TikTok moments, including folks recreating this amusing Family Guy scene where Peter uses his final breath to make a big deathbed confession: “I did not care for […]

20 January, 2025
The huge story nobody’s talking about

Ahhhh spying. The world’s second-oldest profession. It’s a bit like sniffing your own socks: nobody likes getting caught, but everyone does it. And yet, something big has been happening lately, with US officials using increasingly spicy language to describe one of China’s hacks: the outgoing FBI director argues it’s “the most significant cyber espionage campaign in history“, […]

13 January, 2025