Russian, Chinese officials likely to attend another North Korean military parade this week

Representatives from China and Russia are expected to be present at a large-scale North Korean paramilitary parade later this week in a sign of the three countries' continuing efforts to deepen cooperation.

In this footage broadcast by Pyongyang's state-controlled Korean Central Television on July 28, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stands next to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who is using binoculars to review a military parade held in downtown Pyongyang the previous evening to celebrate the end of active hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War. [YONHAP]

Representatives from China and Russia are expected to be present at a large-scale North Korean paramilitary parade later this week in a sign of the three countries' continuing efforts to deepen cooperation.

In an interview with Russian state news agency TASS on Saturday, Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora said that both Moscow and Beijing will send delegations to attend the parade in Pyongyang on Sept. 9, which marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the current regime.

A communist government was formally established in the North on Sept. 9, 1948, after Soviet forces and eventual regime founder Kim Il Sung refused entry to United Nations supervisors to conduct elections in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula.

The North customarily holds especially large celebrations on every 5th and 10th anniversary of events that it considers to be key milestones.

Satellite images taken in recent weeks have shown troops practicing marching in large formations at the Mirim parade training ground on the outskirts of Pyongyang. The training ground is a replica of the capital’s downtown Kim Il Sung Square, where the regime usually stages its military and paramilitary parades.

The upcoming North Korean paramilitary parade is the second to be attended by Russian and Chinese representatives this past year.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese Politburo member Li Hongzhong led their respective national delegations to the North’s most recent military parade on July 27 to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of active hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War, which Pyongyang claims ended in victory for North Korean and Chinese forces.

In his interview with TASS, Matsegora also suggested the North could be invited to joint military exercises by Russia and China but added that he did not know of any ongoing preparations for Pyongyang’s inclusion.

The expected attendance of representatives from Russia and China at the North’s Sept. 9 parade comes after U.S. President Joe Biden hosted a historic trilateral summit last month for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, where the trio pledged to hold regular military exercises to deepen security cooperation against Pyongyang’s escalating nuclear and missile threats.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping soon, following comments by Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov in July that the Russian leader plans to visit China in October.

China and Russia have deepened diplomatic and security ties since the latter launched a full-scale of Ukraine in February last year.

Beijing has refused to blame Moscow for the war and condemned U.S. and European sanctions against Russia.

China has also bought discounted Russian oil and gas now eschewed by Europe and has been accused by the United States of exporting dual-use technology to Russia that have found their way into Russian weapons.

Washington has also disclosed intelligence that Moscow is courting Pyongyang for weapons and materiel, and battlefield reports from Ukraine have exposed Russian use of North Korean artillery shells.

In its briefing to the South Korean National Assembly last month, Seoul’s National Intelligence Service said Shoigu likely sought to purchase artillery and missiles from the North during his visit to Pyongyang in July and also proposed a combined military exercise.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]