Source: Associated Press.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made an appearance at an immense military parade celebrating the anniversary of the 105th birthday of his late grandfather and North Korea founder Kim Il Sung.
The world may have breathed a sigh of relief after North Korea’s latest launch failed. Its parade told a different story.
North Korea has threatened any further military action by the United States could lead to "all out war", following a military parade that showed the terrifying scale of Kim Jong-un's ambitions.
The rogue-state's vice foreign minister Han Song-Ryol told the BBC the country will conduct more missile tests on a "weekly, monthly and yearly basis" in violation of United Nations sanctions.
"If the US is reckless enough to use military means it would mean from that very day, an all out war," he said.
"If the USA is planning a military attack against us we will react with a nuclear pre-emptive strike by our own style and method."
The comments follow a military parade last Saturday that included a failed missile launch but also a frightening display of military hardware.
United States Studies Centre's Alliance 21 Research Fellow Brendan Thomas-Noone said it showed how far North Korea's nuclear technology had come.
He also said it's what wasn't on show which should ring alarm bells.
"The parade showed a North Korean nuclear program that has made huge leaps in missile technology, and is a signal from the North Koreans that they are beginning to master solid-fuelled missiles," he said.
"The North Koreans no longer seem content with just attaining a minimum deterrence with nuclear weapons, but want an assured retaliatory response."
A North Korean KN-08 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) is paraded across Kim Il-sung Square during a military parade in Pyongyang. Photo / AP
Mr Noone, an expert in nuclear deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, said the country's program was now looking more akin to what China or India or another significant nuclear power might want, "rather than what the North Koreans really need to maintain nuclear deterrence against the United States and its allies".
"They are going above and beyond," he said.
Mr Noone said the parade displayed the full suite of nuclear capabilities a country can build.
"The number of new systems, even if some are mock-ups, show a level of ambition we didn't think North Korea was pursuing in its nuclear capabilities.
"This includes ICBMs, road-mobile systems and sea-launched ballistic missiles," he said.
Unknown Danger
While the KN-11, a large solid-fuel missile, was on display, Mr Noone said it was not known exactly how much damage this weapon, last tested in August 2016, could cause.
"We don't know the size of the potential nuclear warheads that would be placed on them," he said.
"Also we don't know the exact numbers that they possess. They only showed us six in the parade but they may have more."
According to Mr Noone, the KN-15 (also known as the Pukguksong-2) is another concern.
University students carry North Korean national flags in front of two bronze statues of the late leaders Kim Ii-sung and Kim Jong-il during Saturday's military parade. Photo / AP
"The KN-15 is a solid-fuelled mobile missile and it was recently successfully tested in February.
"We know that it works, that the North Koreans are able to move them to multiple locations and fuel them relatively quickly. If a military confrontation were to occur, this type of missile is one of the capabilities we would be doing our best to locate."
However Mr Noone said the biggest concern was how quickly Pyongyang was advancing its nuclear program, which had left many blindsided and said North Korea could go further still.
"The advancements in technology demonstrated in the parade show how much progress North Korea is making in missile technology," he said.
Saturday's display included almost 60 missiles - including what is suspected to be a new intercontinental ballistic missile.
US broadcaster CNN revealed a frightening insight into the weapons on display at the parade which marked the Day of the Sun - the 105th anniversary of the birth of the country's founder Kim Il-sung.
Pyongyang showed off a series of ballistic missiles, from the KN-11 to as-yet unidentified missile, to the KN-15 among others.
Soldiers march to celebrate the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung on Saturday. Photo / AP
He also wrote how there were some things the world didn't see and that North Korea has in the past paraded Scuds and Nodong "which make up the backbone of its ballistic-missile fleet".
But this year those older systems are missing which "possibly indicates a shift of focus to missile types that extend beyond the much older Soviet-based systems."
John Hallam, a UN nuclear disarmament campaigner, said even if the DPRK (North Korea) perfected a delivery system that could reach the United States or even Australia, he stressed it cannot destroy the world.
Mr Hallam, who is a member of the People for Nuclear Disarmament and the co-founder of the Human Survival Project, said the DPRK's arsenal seemed unlikely to consist of more than 25 roughly Hiroshima-size warheads.
He said these were most likely deliverable by medium-range Rodong or scud missiles, able to reach Seoul, Tokyo or Beijing, or US bases in Okinawa.
A submarine missile is paraded during a military parade in Pyongyang. Photo / AP
"This doesn't mean that one should lightly mess with the DPRK," he warned,
"Its modest arsenal is quite enough to kill hundreds of thousands in large cities, and would presumably be used only where it was felt that regime change was imminent."
Mr Hallam said the DPRK is an ugly, paranoid regimen that does not tolerate dissent and acknowledged it has a dozen to just over 20 smallish warheads of uncertain reliability deliverable by not very reliable, not very accurate, medium range missiles.
North Korea is determined to show off its military power.
It conducted two nuclear tests and 24 ballistic missile tests last year, defying six Security Council resolutions banning any testing.
It has also launched more missiles this year including a failed attempt this past weekend.
And while North Korea's latest missile test fizzled its weapons development has appeared to make steady progress in recent years.
Korean People's Army ballistic missiles were on display during Saturday's parade. Photo / AP
North Korea conducted two nuclear test explosions and 24 ballistic missile tests in 2016, and experts predict it could have a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the US mainland within a few years.
North Korea's Foreign Ministry said the missile launches are part of a normal process of building up the country's defences and economy.
Ministry official Kim Chang-Min said that the US, the Security Council and big countries ignored South Korean missile launches and Japanese surveillance satellites.
