Kim Jong Un views new weapons at military parade with Russian, Chinese officials

July 28 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was joined by Russian and Chinese officials as he presided over a large-scale military parade featuring the regime's latest weapons, state-run media reported Friday.

The parade was held Thursday in Pyongyang to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War ceasefire, known as Victory Day in North Korea.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese politburo member Li Hongzhong reviewed troops with Kim, Korean Central News Agency reported, marking the first high-level visits to the North since the country closed its borders for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Images released by state media showed columns of goose-stepping soldiers, tanks, rockets and massive intercontinental ballistic missiles on launcher vehicles moving past a cheering crowd of thousands.

Among the weapons on display were enormous Hwasong-17 and solid-fuel Hwasong-18 ICBMs, nuclear-capable missiles that analysts believe can reach the entire continental United States.

Previously unannounced aerial drones also made their debut, according to the KCNA report.

"The strategic reconnaissance drone and the multi-purpose attack drone, which were newly developed and produced and are to be furnished for the [Korean People's Army] air force, made circular flights in the sky above the square," the report said.

Several images showed Kim flanked by Shoigu and Li at the parade -- an unmistakable demonstration of support for the North Korean regime amid high tensions on the Korean Peninsula and a geopolitical divide that has grown in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow and Beijing have repeatedly blocked U.S.-led efforts at the United Nations Security Council to take action against North Korea over a flurry of weapons tests, including its launch of a Hwasong-18 ICBM earlier this month.

Washington has accused North Korea of supplying weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine, and on Thursday a State Department spokesman condemned Moscow for enabling Pyongyang's illicit nuclear and missile programs.

"Russia's support for these unlawful weapons programs by blocking additional action at the U.N. Security Council, by participating in events in Pyongyang celebrating these weapons, by failing to crack down on DPRK sanction evasion activities ... just highlights how detrimental it has become to preserving international peace and security," spokesman Vedant Patel said at a press briefing.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

Patel also called on Beijing to use its influence "to encourage Pyongyang to return to dialogue and refrain from destabilizing activities."

Kim did not address the parade but North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam spoke, calling the event a celebration of the North's victory over the "armed invasion of the U.S. imperialist aggression forces and groups of its satellite states."

He slammed the expanding military cooperation between Washington and Seoul and warned that the United States has "no room of choice of survival in case they use nuclear weapons against the DPRK."

"Our revolutionary armed forces will never tolerate any military acts of encroaching upon the sovereignty and security of the state and will take more offensive armed countermeasure for checking them," Kang said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory message for the anniversary, KCNA reported, praising the Russia-North Korea relationship "in the face of the threats and challenges of the present times."

"[North Korea's] firm support to the special military operation against Ukraine and its solidarity with Russia on key international issues highlight our common interests and determination to counter the policy of the Western group," Putin said.