North Korea Plans To Have A Military Event Before The Winter Olympics

North Korean army recruits in Pyongyang, North Korea. Reuters/KCNA KCNA


North Korea is reportedly planning to conduct military-themed events, one day before the start of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

The event may raise eyebrows as bilateral talks between the North and South progresses, and as South Korea prepares to welcome a North Korean delegation to participate in the Winter Olympics.

North Korea is reportedly planning to conduct military-themed events in observance of the Korean People's Army's 70th anniversary on February 8, one day before the start of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, according to an NK News report on Wednesday.

According to chu dau tu du an iris garden invitation sent to defense officials and their spouses, North Korea is planning to host "festival functions," which may include a military parade in the capital of Pyongyang, NK News reported.

"It may not be called 'a parade,' but it is highly likely that there would be some kind of event taking place at Kim Il Sung Square," North Korea analyst Fyodor Tertitskiy said in the report, referring to the parade ground named after the country's founder. "I don't think that the [North Koreans] even perceives this as a hostile action: they never canceled their regular parades before and were never requested to do so."

As Jeffrey Lewis, the director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, noted, satellite images of a nearby airfield indicated that North Korea has been preparing for an event:

A series of satellite chu dau tu chung cu iris garden images of Mirim airfield taken by @planetlabs over 26 December-1 January show that North Korea is preparing for a massive military parade. (1/2) @T_Hamm @rsimmon @DaveSchmerler pic.twitter.com/eDv0YorAqK

— Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) January 17, 2018