North Korea opens National Defense Revolution Museum... Exhibition of ICBM Hwaseong-20, new SLBM, etc.

To commemorate the 81st anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party, North Korea opened a new defense museum that displays a large number of weapons systems, including new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

The Korean Central News Agency reported on the 13th that “the opening ceremony of the Second Economic Committee National Defense Revolutionary Museum was held in a grand manner on the 11th.”

The news agency introduced the museum as, "It is a collection of the sacred leaders of the defense industry and their great sons and daughters of our Party who have firmly shouldered the fate of the country and the people, and have linked it with steadfast independent beliefs, determination, pitiful hearts, and passionate love."

The opening ceremony included a military musical ceremony, playing the North Korean national anthem, watching a video related to military equipment, and a speech by Kim Jong-sik, first vice-president of the Party Central Committee.

After cutting the opening ceremony tape, Chairman Kim Jong-un toured the museum with the secretary of the Party Central Committee, officials from the Party's central leadership organization, officials from the defense industry, the commander of the Ministry of National Defense, and the commander of the military branch.

Chairman Kim's wife Ri Sol-ju and daughter Joo-ae also accompanied him.

Chairman Kim said, "(The National Defense Revolution Museum) is a great historical site that can only be held by the Korean Workers' Party, which has steadily walked a proud and glorious path in front of the country and future generations without stopping for a moment, and is a noble monument that can only be erected by a powerful nation and people with absolute power to protect themselves."

He continued, "For our party, which was born with the absolute mission of taking full responsibility for the fate of the people, building the world's best defense industry is a worthy calling and a unique way of activity," and emphasized, "The powerful Juche weapons, which serve as a stepping stone to a higher level of raising our national prestige by leaps and bounds, will be developed and completed more steadily through an unrivaled path of development and evolution, and the size and contents of the museum will be expanded and enriched day by day."

News of the museum's opening was also published along with several photos on the front page of Rodong Sinmun, the Labor Party's newspaper for residents.

If you look at the published photos, the museum has everything from personal combat equipment such as scopes to drones and various missiles.

On display were the ICBM 'Hwaseong-20', a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), and the hypersonic missile 'Hwaseong-16ma', which have range only in the U.S. mainland, as well as the 600mm super-large multiple rocket launcher and the anti-ship missile 'Sea Repair'.

Shin Jong-woo, Secretary-General of the Korea Defense and Security Forum (KODEF), said, "This is to show off the achievements of Chairman Kim Jong-un's defense science development plan," and pointed out, "The drawing of multiple warheads and a world map in front of the Hwasong-20 mobile launcher show off the range beyond the U.S. mainland to the Middle East, Australia, and South America."