By Kim Yoo-chul
While North Korea appears to be continuing its production of intercontinental-range ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at some manufacturing sites, there is no sign ICBMs capable of targeting the United States will be deployed during a parade for the North's 70th anniversary of its founding.
"At the moment, North Korea's September military parade looks pretty similar if not smaller than the one in February," Jeffery Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at California's Middlebury Institute of International Studies was quoted as saying by foreign media. They added it was unlikely for the North to deploy the ICBMs for the upcoming event, Sept. 9.
Based on commercial satellite imagery gathered by Planet Labs, Lewis claimed weapons that will be seen during the military parade may include short-range ballistic and coastal defense cruise missiles.
Pyongyang plans to open up the parade to foreign delegations, a first in five years.
Political analysts in Seoul said the scale of the upcoming parade is likely to be reduced given the ongoing talks between Seoul and Pyongyang and Pyongyang and Washington on the North's denuclearization.
"The North may keep the ICBMs hidden from observation during the event. At this time, the North doesn't want to make a fuss on the peninsula by showing off its military strength with updated ICBMs," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
At the Singapore summit June 12, U.S. President Donald Trump said that North Korea was "no longer a nuclear threat," while the North's leader Kim Jong-un said his country will work "toward the complete denuclearization of the peninsula." But no concrete action plan and a specified timeline were included in a joint statement signed by the two.
The United States still has doubts over the North's announcement to dismantle its nuclear warheads after the latest findings by U.S. intelligence agencies showed that Pyongyang was continuing to produce long-range missiles. The North dismantled its nuclear weapons test site in a gesture to fulfill its early commitment to denuclearization back in June.
But no substantial progress on denuclearization has been made thus far. President Moon Jae-in will send special envoys to Pyongyang Sept. 5 in a step to resume U.S.-North Korea negotiations following Trump's decision to postpone a planned visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the North Korean capital.
While North Korea appears to be continuing its production of intercontinental-range ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at some manufacturing sites, there is no sign ICBMs capable of targeting the United States will be deployed during a parade for the North's 70th anniversary of its founding.
"At the moment, North Korea's September military parade looks pretty similar if not smaller than the one in February," Jeffery Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at California's Middlebury Institute of International Studies was quoted as saying by foreign media. They added it was unlikely for the North to deploy the ICBMs for the upcoming event, Sept. 9.
Based on commercial satellite imagery gathered by Planet Labs, Lewis claimed weapons that will be seen during the military parade may include short-range ballistic and coastal defense cruise missiles.
Pyongyang plans to open up the parade to foreign delegations, a first in five years.
Political analysts in Seoul said the scale of the upcoming parade is likely to be reduced given the ongoing talks between Seoul and Pyongyang and Pyongyang and Washington on the North's denuclearization.
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"The North may keep the ICBMs hidden from observation during the event. At this time, the North doesn't want to make a fuss on the peninsula by showing off its military strength with updated ICBMs," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
At the Singapore summit June 12, U.S. President Donald Trump said that North Korea was "no longer a nuclear threat," while the North's leader Kim Jong-un said his country will work "toward the complete denuclearization of the peninsula." But no concrete action plan and a specified timeline were included in a joint statement signed by the two.
The United States still has doubts over the North's announcement to dismantle its nuclear warheads after the latest findings by U.S. intelligence agencies showed that Pyongyang was continuing to produce long-range missiles. The North dismantled its nuclear weapons test site in a gesture to fulfill its early commitment to denuclearization back in June.
But no substantial progress on denuclearization has been made thus far. President Moon Jae-in will send special envoys to Pyongyang Sept. 5 in a step to resume U.S.-North Korea negotiations following Trump's decision to postpone a planned visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the North Korean capital.
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