North Korean leader Kim Jong Un displayed a new long-range intercontinental ballistic missile at a military parade in Pyongyang that included foreign leaders on Friday.
The yet-to-be-tested Hwasong-20 was described by the state-owned Korean Central News Agency as having the “most powerful nuclear strategic weapons system.”
The government also displayed shorter-range ballistic, cruise and supersonic missiles at the military parade, which marked 80 years since the founding of the Worker’s Party.
A North Korean government photo shows what it says is a new intercontinental ballistic missile called the Hwasong-20, during a military parade, Friday, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
Kim said he hoped to strengthen ties with Russia and work together toward common goals.
Last summer, Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong warned the U.S. to not attempt to restart talks centered around denuclearization, adding that Pyongyang would view any attempt to pressure North Korea to denuclearize as “nothing but a mockery.”
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, fourth right, and Vietnamese General Secretary of Communist Party To Lam, fourth left, hold a meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
“If the U.S. fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK- U.S. meeting will remain as a ‘hope’ of the U.S. side,” Kim Yo Jong said, referring to the nation by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
