South Korea organized, Tuesday, September 26 in Seoul, its first major military parade in ten years with an unprecedented American participation, a show of force at a time when tensions with its northern neighbor are exacerbated.

Some 6,700 soldiers took part in the parade in the heart of Seoul in the pouring rain, cheered by a crowd sheltered under umbrellas and waving South Korean flags. Tanks, drones and missiles were also deployed during this parade.

The South Korean Air Force, which was supposed to fly fighter jets, including US-made F-35 stealth fighters, in the skies over Seoul, eventually canceled its demonstration due to the weather.

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In an unprecedented move, about 300 soldiers from a US combat unit also marched through the center of the capital with their South Korean comrades, illustrating the consolidation of the military alliance between Seoul and Washington in the face of the North Korean nuclear threat.

Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative advocating toughness against Pyongyang

Traditionally, a military parade was held in Seoul every five years for Armed Forces Day. The last one was held in 2013, but the 2018 edition was replaced by a more sober ceremony by the leftist president at the time, Moon Jae-in, who was trying a policy of rapprochement with Pyongyang.

South Korea is now led by Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative who advocates toughness on North Korea. Since taking over the presidency in May 2022, South Korea has stepped up military cooperation with the United States and Japan, holding joint maneuvers on an unprecedented scale.

On the occasion of Armed Forces Day, South Korean leader Yoon Suk-yeol also presided over a ceremony at an air base south of Seoul on Tuesday, during which he praised the strengthening of defense ties between the United States and South Korea.

"If North Korea uses nuclear weapons, its regime will be halted by an overwhelming response from the U.S.-South Korean alliance," the South Korean president said at the base.

"A gesture not very subtle and visually provocative"

The first parade in a decade, which was a commercial showcase of South Korea's latest weapons, "is a not-so-subtle and visually provocative move by the South Korean government to send [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un the message that Seoul will not back down and will not look for ways to reconcile," so Kim of LMI Consulting told AFP. a former CIA analyst.

South Korea is a major arms exporter. In 2022, arms sales brought the country $17.3 billion, including $12.7 billion in contracts with NATO member Poland, including K2 tanks and K9 self-propelled guns.

Under a long-standing doctrine, however, South Korea refrains from selling arms to countries at war. Despite having condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it refuses to deliver weapons directly to Kiev, unlike Western countries.

But that policy, experts warn, could change if North Korea starts exporting weapons and ammunition to Russia in exchange for space and military technology, as Seoul fears.

A fear reinforced by the recent trip to Russia of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who visited weapons factories and attended a demonstration of the Russian Pacific Fleet.

With AFP

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