Western nations are keeping an eye on military movement inside North Korea after new satellite images emerged this month.
The satellite imagery of North Korea was recently unveiled, showing hundreds of transport trucks gathered outside the Mirim training base in Pyongyang. The photos, taken by the European Space Agency, show the state of the training grounds as of November 5.
The presence of transport trucks could signal preparation for an upcoming Party Congress, where senior party leaders meet to approve new five-year plans for various objectives, ranging from economic to military ones.
Trucks began appearing in the second week of June, just in time for preparations of an anniversary military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, which took place in October.
Rumors of increased military activity further increased during the parade, when North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, noted that their armed forces must continue to gather strength.
Since then, North Korea has dispatched approximately 10,000 soldiers to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine, with at least 600 reported combat fatalities, based on estimates from Seoul and Kyiv.
Previous satellite images released in April of this year show that North Korea could be building its biggest warship ever, CNN reported at the time.
Those images were released by independent satellite providers Maxar Technology and Planet Labs, showing a giant ship under construction in the water, just 37 miles from Pyongyang.
“The FFG is approximately 140 meters (459 feet) long, making it the largest warship manufactured in North Korea,” Joseph Bermudez Jr. and Jennifer Jun, analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., President Trump is sounding alarms about adversaries, including North Korea, testing nuclear weapons, but they “don’t talk about it.”
“If you notice, North Korea’s testing constantly. Other countries are testing. We’re the only country that doesn’t test, and I wanna be— I don’t wanna be the only country that doesn’t test,” Trump said during a recent interview.
“Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it. No, we’re gonna test, because they rest and others test. And certainly, North Korea has been testing. Pakistan’s been testing,” the president added.