SEOUL -- South Korea carried out a rare show of military might in the heart of its capital city Tuesday, highlighting the security-minded posture of the current administration and the country's growing status as an arms exporter.
A roughly two-kilometer stretch of road was sectioned off near the landmark Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul as the country marked its 75th annual Armed Forces Day. The parade -- the first in a decade -- featured hardware such as tanks and was punctuated by thousands of troops marching in lockstep and shouting military slogans.
Despite rain, members of the public gathered on sidewalks to wave flags and cheer. A scheduled airshow was canceled due to the inclement weather.
The parade comes just over a week after North Korean leader went to Russia, where he visited a spaceport and viewed Moscow's nuclear-capable strategic bombers and hypersonic missiles.
The day's events started with a ceremony at an airbase south of Seoul, where President Yoon Suk Yeol made a speech in which he issued a warning to North Korea, his country's primary security threat. Yoon said that any use of nuclear weapons by Pyongyang would lead to his country and the U.S., its main ally, ending the North Korean regime.
Since taking office last year, Yoon has made a series of bold statements on the threat posed by North Korea and the need for South Korea to increase its military power to protect itself. Tuesday's parade went ahead under the slogan "Peace Through Power."
The preceding administration, under left-leaning President Moon Jae-in, marked such events in a more understated manner, on the premise that South Korea ought to avoid acts that could come across as aggressive or increase tensions with the North.
Some 6,700 troops participated and 340 pieces of military equipment were featured in the parade, according to Yoon's office. In a news release, the presidential office detailed some of the most advanced equipment displayed on Tuesday, including Hyunmoo missiles, L-SAM missile interceptors and light-armed helicopters.
Yoon also drew attention to South Korea's growing status as an arms exporter, saying the wares trotted out on Tuesday demonstrated the science and technology that have driven the country's rise as a weapons producer. The country ranked as the world's eighth-largest defense exporter, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, as of 2021.
The government has pledged to expand exports of arms as an engine of economic growth, and for its own security.
"Part of the turn to defense manufacturing and export comes from South Korea's history as a development state, meaning it tends to identify sectors that it can throw its energy into learning, mastering, and moving up the value chain on," Erik Mobrand, a professor at Seoul National University and author of "Top-Down Democracy in South Korea," told Nikkei Asia.
In remarks on Tuesday, Yoon said, "When I look at our military, which has grown into a force that instills fear in the enemy and that the public trusts, I feel overwhelmed as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces."