Signs of Large-Scale Military Parade for Taeyangjeol Next Month

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] North Korea is expected to hold a military parade to mark the 110th birthday of Kim Il-sung (Day of the Sun) on April 15. It has been identified that troop and vehicle movements have increased at the Pyongyang Mirim Airfield, where North Korea is conducting large-scale military parade rehearsals.

According to the Voice of America (VOA) broadcast on the 18th, satellite imagery service 'Planet Labs' captured photos of the parade training ground at Mirim Airfield on the 16th, showing assembled troops. The photos show about 20 troop formations estimated to consist of 50 to 300 soldiers each. Accordingly, the number of troops at the training ground is estimated to be between at least 1,000 and up to 6,000.

This is double the number of troops compared to last month, when only 10 formations were observed.

The broadcast speculated that since there is a possibility North Korea will hold a military parade to mark the 110th birthday of Kim Il-sung (Day of the Sun) on April 15, the troop assembly at Mirim Airfield may be for parade rehearsals. North Korea also held large-scale military parades on the 100th anniversary in 2012 and the 105th anniversary in 2017, which were significant milestone birthdays (every 5 or 10 years).

Activity is also busy around the northern runway area of Pyongyang Sunan Airport. Photos taken by Planet Labs on the 17th of the northern runway area at Pyongyang Sunan Airport show about 100 large vehicles including dump trucks, regular trucks, and buses, drawing attention to the background. These vehicles were distributed across taxiways, runways, and the areas in between. About 50 vehicles were found on the taxiways, the largest number, about 30 in the middle area, and about 20 on the runway.

Satellite images taken about five hours after the missile launch time at 9:30 a.m. on the 16th showed fewer but still several vehicles spotted at various points on the taxiways compared to the 17th.

Nick Hansen, a visiting researcher at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, confirmed that there was some activity at Sunan Airport on the day of North Korea’s ballistic missile launch and the following day but said, "Further analysis is needed to understand the reasons behind these movements."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.