April 15 this year is the 110th anniversary of the 110th birth of former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, and with the "Sun Festival" approaching, the South Korean military and the United States think tank speculate that North Korea will hold a military parade on the Sun Festival, but the scale of this military parade is smaller than before.
According to Yonhap News Agency reported on February 9, there are multiple indications that North Korea is preparing for a military parade, and judging from the current progress and precedent, North Korea may hold a military parade on Kim Il-sung's 110th birthday (April 15). Remote sensing satellite images taken by the satellite photo company Planet Labs at the parade rehearsal ground at Pyongyang's Merlin Airport on the 7th showed that there was a dotted distribution of suspected queues. The company estimates that the rehearsal ground is crowded with between 400 and 2,000 troops. The number of troops is lower than in the past.
Sun Statue Team of the Korean People's Army, "Sun Festival" military parade on April 15, 2017 Source: KCNA
North Korean Special Warfare Forces Ground Troops, October 10, 2020 "75th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party" military parade Source: KCNA
Rok military figures also answered a reporter's question the day before yesterday, saying that they were paying close attention to the dprk's movements, but there was no content that needed special explanation at present. Yonhap speculates that this means that the North Korean military parade is still in the planning stage.
North Korea has two "every five to ten" festivals this year, namely Kim Jong-il's 80th birthday (Light Star Festival) on the 16th of this month and Kim Il-sung's 110th birthday (Sun Festival) military parade on April 15. However, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has not had a precedent for military parades on The Star Festival in the 10 years since he was in power, and both the 100th (2012) and 105th (2017) Sun Festivals have held military parades.
South Korean military sources said that this year coincides with the 110th Sun Festival, which is a grand year for every may and ten. In addition, the DPRK military parade has a large degree of color to release political signals to the outside world.