Muristek
Seoul, February 10
Satellite photos show hundreds of people in formation at a training ground in North Korea's capital in a possible sign the country is preparing for a military parade amid heightened animosities over its recent missile tests.
The 38 North website, which specialises in North Korea studies, said on Wednesday the February 5 imagery taken on the Mirim airfield in Pyongyang—where rehearsals for past military parades occurred—likely signals a forthcoming parade.
North Korea often marks important anniversaries with parades and other displays, and the website noted several upcoming occasions, such as next week's 80th birthday of Kim Jong Il, the late father of current leader Kim Jong Un, and April's 110th birthday of Kim Il Sung, the late grandfather of Kim Jong Un.
The three Kims, who have been ruling North Korea successively since its foundation in 1948, are the subject of a strong personality cult among its 25 million people.
The birthdays of the two late Kims are the country's most important holidays, and its powerful Politburo recently decided to celebrate their upcoming birth anniversaries "with splendor" and make them as "the great festivals of victory and glory to shine long in the annals of the country".
North Korea hasn't disclosed what events it would hold to mark the upcoming birth anniversaries. But on past birthdays and other key state anniversaries, North Korea often staged massive military parades fearing goose-stepping soldiers and new weapons systems to bolster unity and intimidate its rivals.