Dec. 9 (UPI) — North Korea held a parade of new tractors and cargo trucks in Kim Il Sung Square in defiance of sanctions, according to state media.
The display of hundreds of blue farm tractors and white trucks on a snowy road in Pyongyang was published in the Korean Workers’ Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Friday.
The newspaper reported the Thursday procession represented the Kim Jong Un policy of “Mallima,” or accelerating economic progress through self-developed regeneration or revitalization.
The public display is a signal North Korea is sending to the international community about its capacity to withstand heavy economic sanctions, South Korea’s CBS No Cut News reported.
North Korean Premier Pak Pong Ju said at the opening ceremony the vehicles “clearly demonstrate no one can stop us from moving forward” in science and technology.
The Rodong stated, “More than anyone else, the enemy knows the meaning of our commendable production of hundreds of new models of vehicles and tractors, even in the midst of sanctions and blockades.”
“Even if the enemy sanctions us for hundreds and thousands of years, the embrace of military power, prevailing economic potential, and tens of millions of party loyalists will surely bring us a victory that will come like a storm,” the newspaper stated.
The photographs included crowds gathered at the sidelines, cheering the procession as it moved toward the square.
North Korea’s parade is taking place at a time when South Korea’s unification ministry is planning economic projects of its own involving “cooperation with other countries” that could send a “clear signal to the North, which is looking for economic breakthroughs,” according to Unification Minister Cho Myung-gyun.
Yonhap reported Cho was speaking before representatives of potential partner countries, including Russia, China and Mongolia, as well as the economic blocs of ASEAN and the European Union.
Cho said if the projects yield tangible results, North Korea would also “put down its nuclear weapons” and join the path of cooperation.
