Morning Military Parade → Switched to Nighttime Since 2020
"Aimed to Maximize Propaganda Effect"... Concept of 'Theater State'
Tak Hyun-min "Advised North Korea's Hyon Song-wol in 2018"
[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] North Korea held its fifth 'midnight military parade.' Analysts suggest that the shift from morning parades to nighttime events since 2020 is a strategic move aimed at 'maximizing propaganda effects.' During the Moon Jae-in administration, former Blue House Protocol Secretary Tak Hyun-min revealed that he advised on the midnight military parade.
According to military authorities on the 9th, North Korea held a grand military parade starting with a pre-ceremony event around 8:30 PM the previous day, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army.
This is the fifth time North Korea has held a military parade at night. Traditionally, parades were held in the morning, but starting from October 10, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the Workers' Party founding, they switched to midnight parades. Subsequently, nighttime parades were held on January 14, 2021, for the 8th Party Congress, on September 9, 2021, for the 73rd anniversary of the regime's establishment, on April 25 last year for the 90th anniversary of the 'Anti-Japanese Partisan' founding, and for this recent parade as well.
Professor Park Won-gon of Ewha Womans University’s Department of North Korean Studies proposed the concept of a 'theater state' in a phone interview with Asia Economy that day. He analyzed that the dazzling nighttime parade is intended to attract international attention and thereby maximize the propaganda effect desired by the North Korean regime.
Professor Park explained, "Holding the parade at night allows for a glamorous presentation, but more importantly, it enables focusing lighting on what they want to highlight and concealing what they want to hide." He added, "So-called 'prototype' unfinished weapons or those evaluated as 'fake' can be briefly shown and then passed over, allowing for adjustment and staging."
There is also speculation in academia that North Korea may have drawn inspiration from figures known for their propaganda and agitation skills, such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. During Nazi Germany, Hitler often gave important speeches in the evening, avoiding the morning when people's judgment was sharper, and using the relatively vulnerable nighttime to have the public accept his speeches uncritically.
Another factor is the advice from former Blue House Protocol Secretary Tak Hyun-min. In a media interview last May, he claimed that regarding North Korea's first midnight military parade in October 2020, "I told Hyun Song-wol, the troupe leader, to hold the parade at night," and "Since then, North Korea has continued to hold nighttime military parades." He said that during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, he had conversations about production with Hyun Song-wol, then leader of the Samjiyon Orchestra, and proposed the 'midnight military parade' to her, who had decision-making authority.
He explained, "Doing it at night allows the use of lighting and creates dramatic effects," adding, "You can brightly show only what you want to show and make the parts you don't want to show dark." This aligns with experts' analyses that North Korea changed the timing to maximize propaganda effects. However, controversy arose that this helped solidify North Korea's dictatorship and provided ideas for military demonstrations aimed at South Korea. Civic groups filed a complaint against former Secretary Tak in May last year for violating the National Security Act.
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