Kim Jong-un, the Chairperson of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, said at a parade held to mark the 9th Party Congress that the country would "immediately carry out a merciless retaliatory strike against any force that commits military hostile acts infringing on the sovereignty and security interests of the nation."
Korean Central News Agency reported on the 26th that the Chairperson attended a parade held the previous night at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang and stated accordingly that "our armed forces are prepared for all situations."
The Chairperson assessed the recent situation as "the present world where the peace-guarantee system has collapsed without a trace and destruction and slaughter are unceasing everywhere due to the abuse of military violence."
The Chairperson went on to reaffirm resolve to strengthen military power, saying, "Firmly defending the right to survival and the right to development of the state and the people is the most crucial affair of the nation that can be placed alongside nothing else, and it is the inherent duty of our armed forces that no one can replace."
The agency reported that the parade included 50 marching formations, including formations from each branch, arm, and specialized unit of the North Korean military, as well as an aerial parade formation.
In addition, the tank armored division, mechanized infantry division, fire assault division, and the "overseas operations unit formation" and "overseas engineering brigade formation," which had been dispatched to the war in Ukraine, also took part in the parade column.
The agency said that a "corps formation that is guarding the southern border front of the fatherland like an iron wall" participated, indicating that forward units deployed near the Military Demarcation Line also appear to have been included.
However, there was no mention of the "advanced equipment formation," the "Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile formation," or the "hypersonic medium- to long-range strategic missile formation," suggesting that the key strategic assets that appeared at the parade marking the 80th anniversary of the party's founding in Oct. last year did not appear.
During preparations for North Korea's parades that had been held at Mirim Airfield in Pyongyang, satellite images mostly captured only large troop concentrations, while movements of large equipment were not observed.
At the parade, there was a mass parachute jump demonstration by air-ground troops (paratroopers), and aircraft expressing the Workers' Party emblem and the number "9," symbolizing the 9th Party Congress, also performed an air show over the parade venue.
On the rostrum at the parade were the Chairperson, along with party and government officials including members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee, provincial party chief secretaries, and responsible officials of ministries and central organs.
The agency said the parade "will be etched in history as a meaningful political and military festival that powerfully demonstrated the invincible and ever-victorious nature of the cause of the Workers' Party of Korea and the Juche revolutionary cause."