SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, criticised a military parade held in Seoul for its Armed Forces Day this week and called it a “clown show”, in a statement carried by state media KCNA on Thursday.
She also downplayed South Korea’s military capabilities put on display, as well as slamming the flypast of a U.S. B-1B bomber during Tuesday’s parade.
“Who could talk about ‘end of regime’ by showing off what is such a uselessly bulky weapon,” Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA, referring to South Korea’s display of its powerful new Hyunmoo-5 missile capable of carrying an eight-ton warhead.
Military officials have said Tuesday’s parade was partly intended to showcase South Korea’s military might as a deterrence to North Korea, which frequently stages parades featuring weapons such as intercontinental ballistic missiles,
In a speech ahead of the parade, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said the day Pyongyang uses nuclear weapons will be the end of its regime.
Tuesday’s parade at a Seoul air base involved some 5,300 troops, 340 types of military equipment and aircraft flypasts. Another smaller-scale parade took place in downtown Seoul, drawing thousands of spectators.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Ed Davies)
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