South Korea showed off its military might while its northern neighbor announced at the UN that the Korean Peninsula is “on the brink of nuclear war.”

South Korea held its first military parade in a decade on Tuesday, with the unprecedented participation of the United States, a show of force amid tension with North Korea.

At the same time, North Korea’s representative to the UN warned the same day about the existing risk of nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula, particularly as a result of the “reckless actions” of the United States.

About 4,000 soldiers took part in the parade in the heart of Seoul to the applause of a flag-waving crowd, which also featured 170 tanks, drones and missiles.

About 300 US soldiers took part in the parade in the center of the South Korean capital, an unprecedented event that illustrates the strength of the military alliance between the two countries in the face of the North Korean nuclear threat.

Seoul usually holds a military parade every five years, but the 2018 edition was replaced by a more austere ceremony as then-leftist President Moon Jae-in tried to warm up to his northern neighbor.

The country is now led by Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative who pursues a strict policy towards Pyongyang. Since South Korea became president in May 2022, it has intensified its military cooperation with the United States and Japan.

Yoon also presided over a ceremony at an air base, welcoming the strengthening of defense ties between the United States and South Korea.

“If North Korea uses nuclear weapons, its regime will be stopped by an overwhelming response from the US-South Korea alliance,” Yoon said.

Criticism of North Korea

The “continued hysteria of the United States and its allies in terms of nuclear confrontation (…) is putting the Korean Peninsula in a military situation on the brink of nuclear war,” Pyongyang Ambassador Kim Song warned in a speech to the UN General meeting.

Kim attacked Washington’s policies in Northeast Asia and denounced a “dangerous current situation (which) is the fault of the United States, which is trying in every possible way to perfect its hegemonic ambition by overestimating its power.”

According to the representative of Kim Jong Un’s communist regime, “the responsibility also lies with the ruling forces of the “Republic of Korea (South Korea) who intend to impose the scourge of nuclear war against (our) nation.”

Seoul is said to be “obsessed with voluntary submission to the United States and fratricidal confrontation,” the North Korean diplomat concluded.

“Do you really believe, as North Korea claims, that South Korea and the United States are planning to provoke a nuclear war on the peninsula?” one of Seoul’s representatives to the UN said on Tuesday, citing “accusations” “absurd”. .” (JO)