North Korea ‘plans to parade dozens of long-range missiles one day before the Winter Olympics’

North Korea plans to show off dozens of long-range missiles 24 hours before the Winter Olympics in neighbouring South Korea, it has been reported.

Quoting two diplomatic sources, CNN said the parade is planned for February 8, a day before the games get underway in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The display will include ‘hundreds’ of rockets and missiles in an attempt to ‘scare the hell out of the Americans’, one of the sources said.

They said the parade will feature dozens of intercontinental-range Hwasong-15 missiles, which the North tested for the first time last November.

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The date of the planned parade marks the 70th anniversary of the North’s military.

The sources wouldn’t rule out another missile test ‘in the near future’ in a message to American troops stationed in the region.

In his first State of the Union speech this week, US president Donald Trump criticised North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s ‘reckless pursuit’ of nuclear weapons.

Earlier this week, North Korea cancelled one of the key joint cooperation projects with South Korea planned for next month’s Winter Olympics.

North Korea sent a message saying it won’t hold a joint cultural event at the North’s Diamond Mountain on February 4 to mark the games.

South Korea said the North’s decision ‘very regrettable’.

It is not clear how the latest development would affect other planned Olympics-related cooperation projects between the Koreas.

They agreed to field a joint women’s hockey team and have their athletes parade together under a single flag during the opening ceremony on February 9. A dozen North Korean hockey players arrived in North Korea last week to practice with the South Korean players.

North Korea has a history of last-minute cancellations and unexplained reversals, and some experts say it might have sought to gain concessions from the South.