Preparations are underway throughout the North Korean capital for a large-scale military parade and other events to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, satellite imagery shows, including the installation of a large, mysterious structure that may offer clues about the weapons that will roll through central Pyongyang.

The parade will celebrate the July 27 anniversary of the Korean War Armistice, which North Korea calls the “day of victory in the Fatherland Liberation War,” and is likely to feature the country’s largest nuclear missiles and possibly the first displays of new weapons. 

Barring any weather issues that could force a schedule change, recent precedent suggests it could take place before dawn Thursday with state media releasing photos and details later in the day, or on Thursday evening with coverage released Friday.

MYSTERIOUS STRUCTURE 

NK Pro analysis of Planet Labs high-resolution satellite imagery shows that workers installed a large enclosed structure measuring roughly 165 by 150 feet (50 by 45 meters) next to Pyongyang’s Arch of Triumph in recent weeks. The outer walls appear to be at least two stories tall, and the structure has a dark-colored roof.

This sort of structure has not been observed in the same open parking lot before in available Planet Labs and Google Earth high-resolution imagery. 

But dark areas suggestive of installations, as well as possible objects or structures measuring 65 to 80 feet long (20 to 25 meters), appeared at the location in medium-resolution imagery a day after the Oct. 10, 2020 military parade, a sign that North Korea uses the area for storage of weapons or other parade-related items. 

However, weapons and parade vehicles are believed to be stored in the weeks ahead of parades in a dedicated garage compound at the Mirim military parade training base, which was newly built for the Oct. 2020 event and which has appeared busy with driving practices in the last month.

The largest and most difficult-to-move vehicles have been moved to the parade venue, Kim Il Sung Square, in the hours ahead of the event. For example, on the morning of this year’s Feb. 8 military parade, NK Pro reported on the appearance of 17 rectangular structures each over 80 feet long at the entrance of the square, which turned out to be canopies or other types of covers for the same number of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) transporter erector launch vehicles (TELs) that were featured in the parade.

The size of the new structure at the Arch of Triumph suggests it is not another ICBM TEL storage area, since its four quadrants could not each fit multiple of the North’s largest TELs. 

It has also been installed much earlier than the ones in front of the square in February and is much farther away from the square, around 1.8 miles (3 km).

The structure could instead be to store other items — perhaps weapons that have not appeared in a parade before and would thus require a new storage solution. 

One possibility is unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which would presumably need to be moved to Pyongyang from another area of the country. NK Pro revealed likely flight-testing in the northwest of the country in June of new drones with wingspans measuring 65 feet (20 meters) and 115 feet (35 meters).

These are too large to be driven on trailers from the Arch of Triumph to Kim Il Sung Square, but North Korea could be planning to display them on trailers with wings disassembled like Iran has done, or to assemble them closer to the square on parade day. There may also be other, smaller models that could more easily be driven through Pyongyang toward the square.

Alternatively, the new structure at the Arch could be related to another event entirely, such as a banquet in a temporary air-conditioned tent.

RAPID VENUE RENOVATION

Planet Labs imagery shows that workers have rapidly renovated a large event venue at the Three Revolutions Exhibition House complex in northern Pyongyang since late May, installing the final roofing late last week in a sign of preparations for an imminent event.

Some areas of the central courtyard in front of the renovated Light Industry Hall building were also repaved between July 6 and 20, while containers or vehicles and a new covered structure appeared at the northern end of the complex. 

Similar activity observed across the way at Heavy Industry Hall in Oct. 2021 preceded the opening of a major weapons exhibition, and then a fashion expo in the same building a year later.

An event at the Exhibition House would likely be related to the July 27 holiday, but state media has not made any related announcements.

WAR VETERANS CONFERENCE

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has hosted elderly war veterans for major conferences in July to celebrate their service and “victory” over the U.S. in all but three years since he came to power over a decade ago, and another one could be in the works for this week.

Large events featuring Kim speeches and fireworks have taken place outdoors at night in front of the Pyongyang war museum in each of the last two years, though the conference itself was held indoors in 2020 and 2022. 

The area in front of the war museum and monument where these outdoor events took place in the past was renovated between February and May this year, and parking lot repaving work between July 10 and 19 indicates that an event could take place here again. 

State media is likely to report on the arrival of war veterans by plane and train from around the country in the days before July 27. 

Something to watch for will be how many veterans participate, after numbers last year appeared to be less than a third of the previous year. Veterans of the war are growing older, and even child soldiers North Korea enlisted in the 1950-53 Korean War would be in their early 80s.

PARADE FLYOVERS AND FIREWORKS

The installation in the last week of what appear to be strips of firework mortar tubes across the Taedong River is yet another sign that the military parade this week will feature air force flyovers and will likely take place again at night like the previous five parades.

The two parallel strips appeared to be installed between July 16 and 19, according to NK Pro analysis of Umbra SAR (synthetic aperture radar) imagery.

This sort of installation made its first appearance ahead of the Feb. 2023 parade, when lines of fireworks went off as jets and other planes flew from the east in formation over Kim Il Sung Square and Kim Jong Un’s observation deck.

NK Pro previously reported on apparent parade-related flight training at the newly reopened Sunchon Air Base starting in late June. Voice of America was first to report on the appearance of the mortar strips last week.

Edited by Bryan Betts