Updated on April 15 at 7:30 p.m. KST with details about a Friday morning event and separate evening dance and fireworks show at Kim Il Sung Square
North Korean soldiers appeared to continue parade training at a military base in Pyongyang on Friday morning, according to NK News analysis of satellite imagery, suggesting they did not march through Kim Il Sung Square for a parade overnight.
However, an audience filled the viewing stands at central Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square and a crowd holding red pom-poms filled the square Friday morning as well, Planet Labs imagery shows, in a sign that an event indeed took place there before noon. A source told NK News that fireworks could be heard over the city around noon, likely as part of this event.
It remains possible that events celebrating Kim Il Sung’s birthday on Friday included a military or paramilitary parade, based on recent training activity in the city.
Troop transport trucks also remained parked in the same positions at Pyongyang’s Mirim military parade training area between the mornings of April 14 and 15. These trucks have typically appeared parked in a different location in the central square of the base after returning from nighttime military parades in the past. | Images: Planet Labs PBH, edited by NK News
Pyongyang’s central Kim Il Sung Square compared between April 14 and 15 | Images: Planet Labs PBH, edited by NK News
The event in the square Friday morning could have been a civilian rally, a civilian float parade or a “paramilitary” parade similar to one held in Sep. 2021, based on the size of the crowd at the square Friday and the types of large-scale practices seen there in recent days.
Sources previously told NK News they heard jets flying over the city around midnight Thursday, suggesting a parade had started at the time, but it is now unclear if that was part of an event or more training.
North Korean state radio also announced Friday morning that a youth dance and fireworks show would take place in Kim Il Sung Square — the typical military parade location — at 7 p.m. the same day, and state TV broadcast the event starting around 7:10 p.m. This appears to be separate from the morning event there.
NK News has detected multiple signs of an imminent military parade in Pyongyang, including increasing size and frequency of soldier and civilian training throughout Pyongyang leading up to April 15, a national holiday called the Day of the Sun that celebrates Kim Il Sung’s 110th birthday this year.
For example, this week Kim Il Sung Square has been fitted with a large stage and decorated with DPRK and Workers’ Party flags and signs related to the holiday reading “1912” and “2022.” Similar decorations have only appeared at the square before military parades over the last three years, suggesting a military parade was set to take place on Friday.
Civilians still conducting military parade practice on Thursday at Kim Il Sung Square, making a formation of a star and wings with colored pom poms at 11:18am today @planet
We’ve seen this practiced before, and during parades (2nd pic below is Jan 14, 2021 parade) pic.twitter.com/WM3zZjeYDu— Colin Zwirko (@ColinZwirko) April 14, 2022
38 North reported unusual gathering of various military planes at Pyongyang International Airport in recent days, adding to the evidence there were plans to use them this week, possibly for a military or paramilitary parade.
In addition, specific types of civilian formations only seen during military and paramilitary parades appeared in satellite imagery of Kim Il Sung Square this week (shown in an image comparison and Tweet above), suggesting the event they were practicing for was imminent.
It is still possible that North Korea will bring out its missiles and soldiers for a parade on April 25, the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, but this would mean civilians would be training for the parade or multiple parades in central Pyongyang for much longer than was typical in the past.
Edited by Bryan Betts
Updated on April 15 at 7:30 p.m. KST with details about a Friday morning event and separate evening dance and fireworks show at Kim Il Sung Square
North Korean soldiers appeared to continue parade training at a military base in Pyongyang on Friday morning, according to NK News analysis of satellite imagery, suggesting they did not march through Kim Il Sung Square for a parade overnight.
