NK to showcase strategic weapons on anniversary: defense minister

North Korea is preparing events for the Workers’ Party’s founding anniversary this Saturday, and a military parade is one of the choices to stage a show of force with new strategic weapons, South Korea’s Defense Minister Suh Wook told a parliamentary audit Wednesday.

Suh did not provide get into detail regarding what weapons the North would unveil, but added that the isolated country appears poised to remain in wait-and-see mode. North Korean experts expect the regime to unveil an intercontinental or submarine-launched ballistic missile, or both.

Suh agreed with a ruling party lawmaker who said the North would stage a show of force rather than launch missiles or undergo nuclear tests, in order to press the United States to ease sanctions over the North’s nuclear weapons program.

In prepared documents sent to the audit in advance, the Defense Ministry said it had detected signs of activity involving missiles but did not single out specific weapons most likely to be shown at the military parade on the anniversary.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)