Small-scale soldier formation training at a military parade practice grounds in the North Korean capital restarted in recent weeks, satellite imagery shows, after a previous round of drills was cut short suddenly in January as the country moved to prevent a spread of COVID-19.

The new training appears to have begun in mid-March and continued until at least April 12, but has yet to reach the scale seen at the beginning of the year, when satellite imagery suggested preparations were underway for a major military parade through central Pyongyang.

High-resolution satellite images taken on April 6 and 7 show single-group formations of soldiers marching at the Mirim parade training grounds, situated in southeast Pyongyang.

Groups of military vehicles typically seen at Mirim during pre-parade exercises, however, are not visible in the imagery.

A review of daily medium-resolution imagery provided by Planet Labs (timelapse below) reveals that small-scale training began by March 11, with only single groups appearing in marching formation at the grounds, built to mimic Pyongyang’s central Kim Il Sung square.

Larger-scale training consisting of 28 block formations of almost 300 soldiers each was observed on January 22 following the appearance of fewer groups — similar to the recent activity — since around mid-December.

Extended block formation training was again visible at the Mirim grounds in January 24-dated imagery, before appearing to halt until mid-March.

This was likely due to the North Korean government’s COVID-19-related restrictions, which resulted in the state restricting large events and closing some public spaces.

But while NK Pro found that such full-group practices of soldier formations have in recent years only appeared in the weeks ahead of a military parade down the real Kim Il Sung Square — indicating one may have originally been planned for February — the recent small-scale practice is not itself indicative of an upcoming parade.

Last year also saw multiple instances of activities at Mirim which were not followed by a parade, and which were larger than the recent training.

A timelapse of the Mirim parade training grounds from July 2019 through April 12, 2020 | Images: Planet Labs

From around August 13 to early September, and again from mid until late-October, the Planet imagery shows that large groups of vehicles and possibly soldier formation training also took place for multiple weeks at a time before disappearing. No parade subsequently took place in Pyongyang.

In March and April 2019, too, similar groupings of military vehicles, without soldier formations, were captured in high-resolution imagery and reported by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

North Korea last held a military parade on September 9, 2018, following two in February that same year and in April 2017.

The next occasion likely to see a major military parade is this October 10, the 75th anniversary of the DPRK ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) foundation.

Edited by Oliver Hotham