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Kim
observed the parade at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang and held
talks with a visiting Chinese delegation, state media KCNA
reported on Saturday.
The parade displayed rocket launchers hidden in delivery trucks
and tractors towing troops and weapons, highlighting the
militia's role as guerrilla fighters in a war.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a letter expressing his
willingness to strengthen strategic communication and
working-level cooperation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also sent a letter to Kim,
saying the two countries will expand bilateral ties to ensure
security and stability in the Korean peninsula and Northeast
Asia.
"Growing China-Russia-North Korea cooperation and Xi skipping
the G20 Summit in India give the appearance of a widening
fissure in Asia's geopolitical landscape," said Leif-Eric
Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
"Most stakeholders in the region want to avoid a new Cold War,
but this looks increasingly difficult as Beijing and Moscow prop
up Pyongyang and North Korea aligns itself with China and
Russia's challenges to the international order."
An annual two-day summit of the Group of 20 (G20) countries
kicks off on Saturday in New Delhi, India, which will be
dominated by the West, with China's Xi skipping it and Russia's
Putin also being absent.
Kim is expected to travel to Russia this month to meet Putin to
discuss weapons supplies to Moscow to support its full-scale
invasion of Ukraine.
North Korea supplements its already large military with various
paramilitary, reserve, and security groups such as the
army-affiliated Worker-Peasant Red Guards (WPRG).
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee and Josh Smith; Editing by Sandra Maler,
Stephen Coates and Michael Perry)
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