North Korea’s military parade last week, its third in the past year, was another nighttime spectacle featuring drone light shows, paratroopers dropping into Pyongyang’s central square and over 10,000 troops goose-stepping with a range of weapons in hand.

The parade differed from the last two in that, officially, no active-duty Korean People’s Army (KPA) troops took part. Instead, most of the 37 formations that passed through Kim Il Sung Square were reservist divisions known as Worker-Peasant Red Guards, hailing from the provincial level down to individual factories and companies. 

The message, aimed at both