North Korea Unveils 'Record' Number of ICBMs

A missile is displayed during a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea's army, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea February 8, 2023, in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS
A missile is displayed during a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea's army, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea February 8, 2023, in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS
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North Korea Unveils 'Record' Number of ICBMs

A missile is displayed during a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea's army, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea February 8, 2023, in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS
A missile is displayed during a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea's army, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea February 8, 2023, in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS

North Korea's Kim Jong Un oversaw a major military parade showcasing a record number of nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missiles, state media reported Thursday, including what analysts said was possibly a new solid-fueled ICBM.

The parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the country's armed forces featured fireworks, military bands and uniformed soldiers marching in unison to spell out "2.8" and "75", the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

Wearing the black coat and fedora combination favored by his grandfather and North Korea's founding leader Kim Il Sung, Kim attended the February 8 parade with his wife, Ri Sol Ju, and daughter Ju Ae, state media photographs showed.

Images showed the top leader standing flanked by his top generals in Pyongyang's central Kim Il Sung Square, saluting as troops and missile units parade past. 

The weapons on show included at least 10 of the country's largest Hwasong-17 ICBMs, plus vehicles apparently designed to carry a solid-fueled ICBM, Seoul-based specialist site NK News reported.

North Korea has long sought to develop a solid-fuel ICBM, which could help make its nukes harder to detect and destroy.

When the ICBMs appeared in the square, it prompted cheering by spectators, KCNA said, adding that the parade also featured a "tactical nuclear operation unit".

North Korea stages military parades to mark important holidays and events, which are closely monitored by observers for clues about the reclusive regime's progress on its banned ballistic and nuclear weapons.

The parade showcased "the country's greatest nuclear attack capability," KCNA said.

Commercial satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies at 10:05 pm (1305 GMT) on Wednesday night showed a large North Korean flag and thousands of people assembled at Kim Il Sung square.

Analysts said that the scale and scope of the weaponry on display showed advances which represented a challenge to the United States.

"They've shown more ICBMs in the latest parade than they've ever shown before, consistent with a longstanding directive from Kim Jong Un on mass producing nuclear weapons and delivery systems," US-based analyst Ankit Panda told AFP.

This is an issue, he said, as Washington has planned its homeland missile defense system to deal with a 'limited' missile threat from North Korea.

"North Korea has now demonstrated that their nuclear forces are far from 'limited'," he said.

Other analysts said that by parading more of Kim's most advanced Hwasong-17 missiles than have ever been seen before, Pyongyang was sending a clear message.

"This is North Korea trying to declare itself a full-fledged nuclear power," Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul told AFP.



Bangladesh Protest Leaders Taken from Hospital by Police

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Bangladesh Protest Leaders Taken from Hospital by Police

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladeshi police detectives on Friday forced the discharge from hospital of three student protest leaders blamed for deadly unrest, taking them to an unknown location, staff told AFP.

Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Abu Baker Majumder are all members of Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organizing this month's street rallies against civil service hiring rules.

At least 195 people were killed in the ensuing police crackdown and clashes, according to an AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals, in some of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tenure.

All three were patients at a hospital in the capital Dhaka, and at least two of them said their injuries were caused by torture in earlier police custody.

"They took them from us," Gonoshasthaya hospital supervisor Anwara Begum Lucky told AFP. "The men were from the Detective Branch."

She added that she had not wanted to discharge the student leaders but police had pressured the hospital chief to do so.

Islam's elder sister Fatema Tasnim told AFP from the hospital that six plainclothes detectives had taken all three men.

The trio's student group had suspended fresh protests at the start of this week, saying they had wanted the reform of government job quotas but not "at the expense of so much blood".

The pause was due to expire earlier on Friday but the group had given no indication of its future course of action.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location.

Islam added that he had come to his senses the following morning on a roadside in Dhaka.

Mahmud earlier told AFP that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week's unrest.

Three senior police officers in Dhaka all denied that the trio had been taken from the hospital and into custody on Friday.

- Garment tycoon arrested -

Police told AFP on Thursday that they had arrested at least 4,000 people since the unrest began last week, including 2,500 in Dhaka.

On Friday police said they had arrested David Hasanat, the founder and chief executive of one of Bangladesh's biggest garment factory enterprises.

His Viyellatex Group employs more than 15,000 people according to its website, and its annual turnover was estimated at $400 million by the Daily Star newspaper last year.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police inspector Abu Sayed Miah said Hasanat and several others were suspected of financing the "anarchy, arson and vandalism" of last week.

Bangladesh makes around $50 billion in annual export earnings from the textile trade, which services leading global brands including H&M, Gap and others.

Student protests began this month after the reintroduction in June of a scheme reserving more than half of government jobs for certain candidates.

With around 18 million young people in Bangladesh out of work, according to government figures, the move deeply upset graduates facing an acute jobs crisis.

Critics say the quota is used to stack public jobs with loyalists to Hasina's Awami League.

- 'Call to the nation' -

The Supreme Court cut the number of reserved jobs on Sunday but fell short of protesters' demands to scrap the quotas entirely.

Hasina has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Her government is also accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

Hasina continued a tour of government buildings that had been ransacked by protesters, on Friday visiting state broadcaster Bangladesh Television, which was partly set ablaze last week.

"Find those who were involved in this," she said, according to state news agency BSS.

"Cooperate with us to ensure their punishment. I am making this call to the nation."