This weekend, North Korea celebrated the "Day of the Sun,"
a national holiday marking the birthday of the country’s founder,
Kim Il-sung, grandfather of Kim Jong-un.
The occasion is used to parade North Korea’s highly-synchronized soldiers and latest weaponry,
and very few foreign journalists are invited…
…but we were.
— It’s been an eventful weekend in Pyongyang.
At 4 a.m. on Saturday, we were loaded into a van
and driven to Kim Il-sung Square, in the heart of the city.
— Are you worried about the event of war?
— Choe Ryong Hae, one of Kim Jong-un’s closest confidantes, addressed the crowd.
Kim Jong-un looked on approvingly.
— The march took place at one of the tensest moments in years between the U.S. and North Korea.
The U.S. Navy’s Carl Vinson Strike Group was approaching the peninsula,
and satellite photos had suggested an imminent North Korean nuclear test.
— The following morning, thanks to emails from the outside world,
we found out the nuclear test hadn’t happened.
But while we were at the parade,
the North Korean military were preparing a medium-range missile test
off the country’s eastern coast.
According to the U.S. military,
the missile “fizzled out” shortly after launch.
Some analysts are claiming it could have been sabotaged by U.S. cyber warfare.
We continued our strictly-controlled press trip,
and were politely asked to avoid the topic of the failed launch.