Kim Jong Un parades his new Hwasong-20 nuclear missile, flexing power before China and Russia amid rising global unease.
Under the flashing lights of Pyongyang’s grand boulevard, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un presided over a chilling display of military might — a massive parade showcasing the Hwasong-20, the regime’s most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile to date. The event, marking the 80th anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, drew prominent foreign guests including China’s Premier Li Qiang, Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev, and Vietnam’s Communist Party leader To Lam — a clear demonstration of the tightening Beijing-Moscow-Pyongyang axis.
North Korea’s state media, KCNA, hailed the Hwasong-20 as the nation’s “strongest nuclear strategic weapon system”, boasting of its potential to strike the continental United States. Military analysts, however, remain skeptical of its accuracy and whether its warheads can survive re-entry — exposing Kim’s projection of strength as more political theatre than proven capability.
Analyst Ankit Panda of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace warned that the new system is likely equipped for multiple nuclear warheads, posing a growing challenge to U.S. missile defense networks and underscoring Kim’s drive to attain “meaningful deterrence” against Washington.
In a defiant address, Kim glorified his troops serving in Russia’s war against Ukraine, praising their “socialist heroism” — a stunning admission of Pyongyang’s covert military role in Moscow’s war machine. His rhetoric painted North Korea not as an isolated state, but as a willing accomplice in the emerging authoritarian military bloc challenging Western democracies and Israel’s allies.
The parade underscores a stark truth: while Israel and its Western partners seek peace and stability through deterrence and defense cooperation, rogue regimes like North Korea, Iran, and Russia continue to forge alliances that threaten global security. Kim’s nuclear showmanship is not just aimed at Washington — it’s a signal to the world that the axis of tyranny is alive, armed, and emboldened.
