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| North Korea uses parades to show the world its military prowess. This parade in April 2017 celebrated the 105th birthday of the country's founder Kim Il-sung. / Yonhap |
By Oh Young-jin
North Korea reportedly plans to stage a massive military parade on Feb. 8 to celebrate its armed forces. The next day, South Korea will hold the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
The North will send a delegation to the Games, with its team marching with South Korean athletes and officials under the name "Corea," using a common flag. The Seoul government has put up with internal criticisms to allow North Koreans into the joint ice hockey team, surely at the expense of South Korean players.
So what does the North want?
A North Korea expert who knows the intricacies of North Korean propaganda said: "It is part of the North's effort to dilute the international sanctions imposed on it."
The United States, South Korea and Japan also have led a series of sanctions through the United Nations on the North, apparently causing shortages of fuel and other key commodities in the isolated country.
"The North is keenly aware of what image it wants to project to the world," the expert said.
"First, the parade would be massive, aiming to send the message that the sanctions are not hurting them in the least." Of course, it could also help fortify Kim Jong-un's image as leader, he said.
"The next day, the South, together with the rest of the world, would be celebrating the Olympics.
"Put them together and the message is that the South Koreans living next door to the North are not worried, as shown in their Olympic celebrations. The North would be metaphorically asking the world why they are making so much fuss about it."
This could bring cracks to the global coordination of sanctions on the North, he said. "Timing couldn't be better from the North's standpoint." That is because the U.S. is expected to turn the pressure back on Pyongyang after the Olympics and Seoul can't afford to let the U.S. have its way, he said.
The expert said a lesson learned from the 1988 Seoul Olympics motivated the North to attend the Winter Games. "After the Seoul Games, the South hogged international attention," he said. "Pyongyang doesn't want it to happen this time."
Meanwhile, regarding reports of a gag order on Thae Young-ho, a North Korean diplomat who defected to the South, the expert said he knew the government had no role but it was Thae's decision to refrain from speaking to the media for fear it would aggravate inter-Korean relations during the Games.
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