TRANSCRIPT (Subtitles)

Characteristics of North Korea's Military Parades

Hello! Today, we will analyze the military parade held on October 10th marking the 80th anniversary of North Korea's Workers' Party. We will examine what the founding of the party signifies, the meaning embodied in the parade itself, and what core messages North Korea sought to convey through the parade.

It's dazzling, isn't it? This takes place mainly at night. North Korea started holding military parades since 2020. Between 6 PM and midnight. As the sun sets and darkness falls, they set up the pitch-black stage. In the past, they have employed drones or parachute units to create dazzling displays embroidering the night sky with various effects. And since it's at night, they can also make use of lighting to create dramatic effects very effectively. It is known that preparing for this military parade takes at least six months to over a year. Despite the rain that day, it is reported that all mobilized personnel had been waiting for at least 12 hours.

In North Korea, such mobilizations are what we commonly call labor mobilizations, and this situation represents the epitome of such mobilizations. Yet, does one hear any complaints about this? Absolutely not—this is one of the defining characteristics of the North Korean regime.

This is because after major events, North Korea conducts a kind of “summary evaluation.” During this evaluation process, if any talk emerges about insincerity or complaints, the individual faces severe repercussions. Especially for mobilized Pyongyang citizens, a mistake could lead to being sent to the provinces outside Pyongyang. Being sent to the countryside is what Pyongyang residents fear most. That is why, North Koreans unable to express complaints about the parade when such events occur, while there may be internal discontent, it is characteristic of North Korea that no outward voice of complaint can be raised. And they prepare with such perfect precision and thoroughness that no mistakes are visible.

Previously, North Korea even broadcasted live. However, during one such broadcast, a tank broke ranks. Given North Korea's nature, even the slightest error is unacceptable during so-called “Code One Events” involving the Supreme Leader. This reflects the principle of the Leader's infallibility—meaning he never makes mistakes. Consequently, they began releasing these events via pre-recorded footage. So if anything goes wrong, they release an edited version.

Also, have you ever noticed the footsteps of soldiers marching in the parade? The footwork and kicking motion during marches differ between Western nations and socialist countries. It's known as the “goose step.” It's that waddling gait where they lift their feet high. One of the most famous examples is the steps in Nazi Germany. They kick their feet straight out, lifting them quite high, and stride forward. This act of walking while facing the stage is called the “goose step,” originating in the Prussian army during the 17th century.

Why did they start it? To demonstrate that soldiers must obey any order given by their generals without question. Despite the comical gait, it became a symbol of absolute obedience to order. Later, it was also used as a method to instill fear in enemy nations, making young men in military uniforms appear superhuman. This practice was later inherited by the Russian army, then the Soviet army, and eventually came to North Korea.

In North Korea, this marching technique takes a step further. Called the “Bounce Goose Step” in English, instead of straightening the leg and kicking upward, the leg is bent at the knee before kicking. This creates a more springy upward motion and looks far more dynamic. It's correspondingly more difficult and puts greater strain on the joints. Some describe it as an inhumane form of gait.

The South China Morning Post interviewed one North Korean defector. According to his testimony, “For six months, we underwent intense training for six days a week, six to ten hours a day.” That's why most suffer from aftereffects like neuralgia, back pain, or disc disorders after the military parade. While the march itself may look impressive or dynamic to spectators, it's a gait that inflicts tremendous pain on the individuals performing it.

Let me explain the military parade. What exactly is a military parade? People say it's a parade of soldiers, right? However, what North Korea does is not just a military parade. Rather, it can be seen as an event closer to a symbolic narrative that implicitly captures the essence of the North Korean regime and its political message. The most crucial thing North Korea wants to demonstrate here is the existence of its ruling Workers' Party. The military parade serves to showcase the unity of the party, the military, and the civilian populace—specifically the citizens of Pyongyang—as one cohesive entity.

Another reason is that for supreme leaders like Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un following Kim Il-sung, the military parade serves to demonstrate, “I am in control of the military.” Watching the parade, they all shout in unison, and it even gives you a chilling feeling. The soldiers marching in formation shout in perfect unison, “We will defend Kim Jong-un to the death!” Beyond that, whenever Kim Jong-un appears, they repeatedly shout “Long live!” and clap like this, what they call “seal clapping.” The meaning behind this is to demonstrate that “the army absolutely obeys the leader” and “the army exists under the leader.”

Significance of the 80th Anniversary of the Founding of the Worker's Party

This time, it's the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party. In North Korea's socialist state system, they often designate years ending in 5 or 0 as and call them “milestone anniversaries,” and especially for years ending in 0, they hold very large celebrations. “We commemorate the founding of the Party on October 10, 1945.” Based on that calculation, since this year was the 80th anniversary, they held an exceptionally large event. Through this, you can see the significance in multiple ways: showcasing the 13th year of the Kim Jong-un regime, marking a decade since North Korea declared its so-called nuclear force was complete in November 2017, and featuring a military parade on a ten-year cycle.

Through this, they held a military parade demonstrating the historical completeness of a single system—that the revolution of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il was inherited and brought to completion in the era of Kim Jong-un. This is the symbolic political message they sought to convey.

Here, I'd like to mention the Party Foundation Day. North Korea has several days it considers important. Among them, the day with the most significant political meaning and the most important day in North Korea is Kim Il-sung's birthday, known as the Day of the Sun. Beyond that, there are the Party Foundation Day and the State Foundation Day. The Party Foundation Day is October 10th, called the “Double Tenth.” The State Foundation Day is September 9th, called the Nine-Ninth Festival and also known as National Foundation Day.

But which is more important? In South Korea, national foundation is much more important than the foundation of a party, right? But North Korea places far greater importance on the founding of the party than on the establishment of the regime. This speaks to the North Korean-style power structure they describe, where the party takes precedence over the state. It is clearly stated in the preamble of the North Korean constitution: “The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a state established under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea.” “The state is an administrative apparatus for implementing the party's policies.” You can understand it as the party being far above the state, controlling everything.

October 10th marks the founding of the leadership system. For North Korea, this founding date is far more significant because true sovereignty in North Korea resides not with the state or the people, but with the Workers' Party and the supreme leader. That is why October 10th is held in such high regard. It is also valued because it completes a narrative.

Looking at the North Korean system, it always begins with Kim Il-sung's guerrilla movement in 1930. They describe how the initial anti-Japanese armed struggle led to the founding of the Party, and that the Party eventually established the regime. Thus, they express that the Party's foundation is both Kim Il-sung's personal achievement and the institutional completion of the revolution. In that sense, September 9th is the birth of the system, while October 10th is the completion of the revolution. North Korea considers the completion of the revolution to be more important.

Finally, the Kim Jong-un era has significantly strengthened the Party Central Committee's governing system. During Kim Jong-il's period, North Korea faced immense post-Cold War challenges under the so-called “Songun (military-first) politics.” To overcome the period known as the Arduous March in the mid-to-late 1990s, when large-scale starvation occurred during the no-rations period, North Korea adopted the Songun politics, prioritizing the military.

However, under Kim Jong-un, there is now a shift towards restoring the typical socialist model where the Party controls the state. Therefore, “restoring a Party-centered governance system” is significant. From Kim Jong-un's perspective, the Party Foundation Day is also important in terms of the identity of his leadership. Here, it's worth noting a historic point: there is a disconnect between what North Korea claims and the actual historic facts.

North Korea claims that October 10, 1945, was the day the Central Organizational Committee of the North Korean Communist Party was established. That is why they commemorated the 80th anniversary this October 10th. However, a careful examination of historical records reveals that no meeting actually took place on October 10th. The widely accepted theory is that it was held on October 13th, not the 10th. Furthermore, it is said that the first secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea was not Kim Il-sung, but a man named Kim Yong-bom. Another point is that the official foundation of the Workers' Party is understood to have occurred around 1946 or 1949.

However, the claim that October 10, 1945, was the founding date of the Korean Workers' Party was established by Kim Il-sung and formalized in 1958. In 1958, the Rodong Sinmun published this statement: “Solid communists led by Comrade Kim Il-sung established a unified party on October 10, 1945.” The year 1958 is actually incredibly significant. Because in 1958, Kim Il-sung finally purged all opposing factions within the party through the First Congress of Party Representatives. Factions like the Yan'an faction or the Soviet faction, and Park Hyeon-yeong's South Korean Workers' Party had already been purged during the Korean War. Following the August 1956 Factional Incident, 1958 was the year he finally consolidated control over the factions and ascended to a one-man system. So it is known that the system was complete in 1958 and that Kim Il-sung founded the Korean Workers' Party on October 11, 1945.

Then why October 10? October 10th, “Double Tenth Day,” is easy to remember and rolls off the tongue nicely. The same goes for the “Nine-Ninth Day.” It seems likely they chose it because they wanted a number with a symmetrical structure. The crucial point here is that it appears the date was manipulated to legitimize Kim Il-sung's leadership. Specifically, as mentioned, Kim Yong-bom was the first secretary, but history was rewritten to make it seem as if Kim Il-sung founded the party from the very beginning.

Why? Obviously, to secure legitimacy. I believe it is all about simplifying every process to make it seem as though he is the very center of this party and the protagonist of the narrative that founded it.

Military Parade's Core Messages to the Outside World

I will now address the key points of the recent military parade. The most crucial aspect is the external message. As for the domestic message, Kim Jong-un sufficiently conveyed various meanings through the eve celebration on the Party Foundation Day, as mentioned earlier, and these were also touched upon in his parade speech. However, what we should focus on today is the message to the outside world, specifically the Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) which many media outlets and researchers paid attention to amid the many messages. They disclosed the missile's appearance without ever conducting a test launch. Why is this significant? It's significant because it's highly unusual.

North Korea launched the Hwasong-19 intercontinental ballistic missile on the last day of October last year. After that launch, they declared, “This is the final, complete version,” “We no longer need any new forms of intercontinental ballistic missiles,” and " This is the most powerful missile." Yet they've only conducted one test launch. North Korea claims it deployed the missile after just one test launch, but now they've unveiled the actual missile without even conducting a test launch.

Based on what has been shown, the two missiles are highly similar. First, the missile length is 28 meters, and it uses a mobile launcher vehicle called a TEL. It has 11 axles and 22 wheels. What's the difference? According to on what North Korea has announced, the Hwasong-20 “uses an engine made with carbon fiber composite materials, so the engine output is about 40% higher than the Hwasong-19.” Increased engine output means it can travel further and carry a heavier warhead, indicating improved performance.

Why develop the Hwasong-20 if the Hwasong-19 was supposedly the final version? I believe this is a message to the United States. They are conveying that they will continue to expand their nuclear capabilities, especially the ability to strike the U.S. mainland. So, just as Kim Jong-un stated in his policy address to the Supreme People's Assembly, we should accept their conditions and now engage in negotiations—not denuclearization talks, but nuclear disarmament negotiations. I interpret this as a high-intensity pressure tactic deployed because North Korea demonstrated a weapons system—the Hwasong-20—that can tangibly strike the U.S.

Another point is that the leaders from Vietnam and Laos were invited. Now, doesn't Vietnam possess a very unique characteristic as a nation? Using North Korean terminology, Vietnam is a country with extremely strong sovereignty. Vietnam is in a competitive relationship with China, and their relations aren't particularly good. They've had serious conflicts, and relations remain poor even now, yet they maintain decent relations with the U.S. In a way, Vietnam is pursuing pragmatic diplomacy, or what North Korea might call “Juche diplomacy.”

One interpretation is that North Korea, sharing this approach with Vietnam, intends to expand relations with Vietnam going forward. It seems North Korea is also practicing a form of Juche diplomacy similar to, or perhaps the original model of Vietnam's diplomacy—one where it avoids putting all its eggs in one basket, maximizes its interests by leveraging both nations to the maximum, and seeks to achieve the greatest possible benefit.

The Implications of the Military Parade for North Korean Residents

To conclude, Kim Il-sung's speech at the eve of the parade revealed the current state of the North Korean society: “If we struggle well for several years with the same momentum as now, we can visibly transform our lives.” This indicates that the lives of North Korean residents are difficult. The dollar exchange rate at the markets, or the fact that North Korea discussed its Five-Year Economic Development Plan, which this year is the final year, at the 8th Party Congress—achievements in the economic sector are inevitably quite limited.

Under such difficult circumstance, holding a large-scale military parade—which costs an enormous amount of money—and seeing the nation's energy being spent on this, it's not something that feels comfortable to observe from the outside.

The costs of a large-scale military parade are also enormous. The significance of the party foundation and the military parade is ultimately a massive political event designed to highlight the Kim Jong-un regime or the authority of the supreme leader. It is also unsettling that this is not truly for the benefit of the North Korean people.

Today, we've explored the meaning of the military parade and the 80th anniversary of the party's foundation together. Thank you for watching.

■ Won Gon PARK is the Chair of EAI Center for North Korea Studies and a Professor of North Korean Studies at Ewha Womans University.

■ Translated and edited by: Sangjun LEE, EAI Research Associate 
    For inquiries: 02 2277 1683 (ext. 211) | leesj@eai.or.kr