Really Need Cash

 A FURTHER widening in income and consumption inequalities that the findings of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2022 report appears alarming. The findings that national statistical office made public on April 12 shows that income inequality measured 0.499 in Gini coefficient, a measure of the distribution of income across the population in 2022, on a scale of 0–1. The figure, which is now short of 0.017 marks from the level of 0.50, said to pose a high risk of social unrest, had been calculated static at 0.482 since 2016. It was 0.458 in 2010. A smaller Gini coefficient means a less unequal distribution of national wealth. Income inequality, as the survey report says, has increased to 0.539 in urban areas in 2022 from 0.490 in 2016 but it decreased to 0.446 in rural areas in 2022 from 0.454 in 2016. While economists suggest that policies should be worked out to immediately check widening income inequality, they find the decline in inequality in rural areas as the rate of poverty in rural areas is high. Although overall poverty nationally declined to 18.7 per cent in 2022 from 24.3 per cent in 2016, it declined to 20.5 per cent in 2022 in rural areas, from 24.4 per cent in 2016, against a decline to 14.7 per cent in 2022 in urban areas from 18.0 per cent in 2016.

All this having happened, as the survey shows, consumption inequality has also widened as it increased to 0.334 in 2022 from 0.324 in 2016, which was 0.321 in 2010. In such a situation, people are reported to have been withdrawing their bank savings to cope with the increased living cost said mostly to have been caused by growing inflation. The overall inflation reached 9.52 per cent in August 2022, which was the highest in a decade. The rate gradually came down to 8.57 per cent this January, but it started increasing in February to reach 8.78 per cent, which in March increased to 9.33 per cent. Bangladesh Bank data show that savings deposit declined by 4.16 per cent to Tk 3,539.11 billion while fixed deposit declined by 0.16 per cent to Tk 6914.31 billion in December 2022 in three months since September that year. Experts believe that people are using up their savings to maintain their consumption amidst the shock of growing inflation as the earning of people is not going up. A situation in which banks do not offer high interest rate, which could have supported the people in need in this precarious financial situation, is believed to have prompted people to withdraw their savings. Official data also show that the amount of consumer loans surged by 14.55 per cent to Tk 1288.79 billion in  December 2022 from Tk 1125.18 billion in September that year. The proposition suggests failures of the government in arresting inflation and in taking measures to cushion off people from the impact of inflation. All this, as earlier media reports say, have forced people, especially the poor and people of the low- and fixed-income groups to cut down on their food consumption and reduce medical and educational expenses.

 THE performances that take place on New Year’s Day not only reveal the way contemporary Bengalis imagine Bengaliness but also the contested aspects of this very identity. The Bengali/Bangla New Year, Nababarsha — Nababarsha is also addressed as Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the month of Baishakh — is for many Bengalis the most important celebration of the year observed in urban and rural areas by the people of all religious faiths.

However, some may look at it as a festival of non-Muslim origin. Whether or not to celebrate, Nababarsha embodies the aspiration of Bengalis regarding their Bangladeshi, social, and cultural identities. Bangladesh is an agricultural society; therefore many traditional festivities revolve around the seasons. The Bengali calendar marks six seasons: summer, monsoon, autumn, late autumn, winter and spring.

Bangla calendar

THERE is no doubt that the Bangla calendar followed today was introduced into the Indian subcontinent by the Muslims operating from Delhi, the capital of the Mughals.

The Bangla year or calendar was introduced through an ordinance promulgated by the Mughal emperor Akbar the Great (ruled 1556–1605) on March 10 or 11, 1584, Hegira 993. From the very beginning of his reign, Akbar felt the need for a uniform scientific, workable calendar. With this end in sight, he commissioned Amir Fathullah Shirazi, a distinguished scientist and the most famous astronomer of the day, to recommend a reformed calendar. Abul Fazal, the renowned scholar and a minister of Akbar, in his scholarly work Akbar Namah, gives details of the events leading to the new era under the royal forman (promulgation) of Akbar.

Abul Fazal explains that the previous Hegira Era lunar calendar reckoned from 622 CE was unfair to the peasants. According to the Hegira calendar, farmers had to pay taxes based on lunar years. However, their farming followed the solar year. The lunar year consists of 354 days, while the solar year has 365 or 366 days. Because 31 lunar years were equal to 30 solar years, the farmers paid 31 annual revenues for 30 harvests. Also, before Akbar, the Mughals’ agricultural taxes in Bengal were due on the lunar New Year. But this resulted in a mismatch because the New Year on the Hegira lunar calendar was always shifting and did not necessarily coincide with the start of harvest season.

As a result, farmers were hard pressed to pay taxes when the Hegira New Year occurred out of season. Emperor Akbar recognised the difficulty and set out to rectify it.

Tarikh-e-Elahi, the divine era, was conceived and introduced on March 10 or 11 of the 29th year of Akbar’s reign, through a royal decree. These dates commemorated the emperor’s ascension to the throne of Delhi and determined that his administration collected the land taxes at a fixed time. Shirazi combined the Shakabda calendar, which was introduced in 78 CE, with the Hegira calendar and some less significant calendars of the time. He calculated the lengths of the months based on the solar cycle. In 963 of the Islamic calendar, he made Boishakh the first month of the Bengali year (according to the present-day Bengali calendar) because that year Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, coincided with Baishakh.

During Akbar’s reign, the months had different names from the ones in use today. Akbar’s months were Karwadin, Ardi, Vihisu, Khordad, Teer, Amardad, Shahriar, Aban, Azur, Dai, Baham, and Iskander Miz. Each day of the week also had a different name. Akbar’s grandson prince Mirza Shihab-ud-Din Muhammed Khurram, also known as Emperor Shah Jahan (ruled 1628–1658), changed the names of the days. He called the days rabi for Sun, som for Moon, mangal for Mars, budh for Mercury, brihaspati for Jupiter, shukra for Venus, and shani for Saturn. It is unknown how and when the people of Bengal and the rest of India renamed the months as Boishakh, Jyashtho, etc.

Yet it is presumed that these months, based on the names of the stars, came from the Shakabda calendar and had their origin in one of the many Indian treatises on astronomy, known as Siddhantas, particularly the Surya Siddhanata. The star-based names of the months were: Baishakh from Vishaka (Libra); Jyashtha from Jaishtha (Scorpion); Asharh from Ashadha (Sagittarius); Shraban from Shravana (Aquila);   Bhadra from Bhadrapada (Pegasus); Ashwin from Ashvini (Arietis); Kartik from Krittika (Taurus); Agrahayan from Agraihani (Aldebaran); Paush from Pushya (Cancer); Maagh from Magha (Regulus); Phalgun from Phalguni (Leonis); and Chaitra from Chitra (Virginis).

The custom of celebrating the New Year was also introduced by emperor Akbar. After proclaiming Tarikh-e-Elahi, he abolished many traditional Muslim festivals and replaced them with 14 new festivals, one of which was nawroze, the celebration of the New Year. It was in one such celebration, in a meena bazaar (a bazaar for women), prince Selim, later emperor Jahangir, met and fell in love with Mehr-un-Nissa, known as Nur Jahan. It was also at a nawroz festival that the prince Khurram (emperor Shah Jahan) first met Mumtaz Mahal, whom he immortalised through the great ‘poetry in marble’, the Taj Mahal. The Bengali version of nawroz is Nababarsha.

Nababarsha celebrations

THE present-day celebration of Nababarsha in Bangladesh is secular while at the same time reflecting the local culture which religious conservatives, who oppose Bengaliness, associate with the Bengali Hindu culture. For the non-conservative Bengali Muslims of Bangladesh, their way of life is both Bengali and Muslim, which overlap but usually do not create tension. Language, eating habits and costumes are generally identified as local and do not create conflict, although there are a few exceptions. Before the language movement, the celebration of Nababarsha was confined to peasants and traders in small towns.

It was never a national festival. But in the beginning of mid-1960s, the celebration of Nababarsha became a political issue linked to the Bengali language movement. The Pakistan government’s ban on Tagore songs gave birth to this new movement which strengthened the ongoing language movement. Banglapedia says: ‘The historical importance of Pahela Baishakh (also Boishakh) in the Bangladesh context may be dated from the observance of the day by Chhayanat in 1965. In an attempt to suppress Bengali culture, the Pakistan Government had banned Tagore songs. Protesting this move, Chhayanat opened their Pahela Baishakh celebrations at Ramna Park with Tagore’s song welcoming the month [in 1967]. The day continued to be celebrated in East Pakistan as a symbol of Bengali culture. After 1972 it became a national festival, a symbol of the Bangladesh nationalist movement and an integral part of the people’s cultural heritage.’

utside Dhaka

NABABARSHA celebrations have traditionally been more colourful in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the far southeast of Bangladesh than in other parts of the country. Several indigenous tribes celebrate the day as the New Year in their calendar. Over time, the integration of these cultures has resulted in the term Baisabi designating the New Year celebrations among the diverse ethnic minorities of the south. This region was recorded in the first known map of Bengal, dated about 1550. However, long before in the year 953 a king of Arakan occupied the present districts of Chittagong Hill Tracts and Chittagong (now Chattogram).

The ancient name of Arakan is Rakhainepray. The word Rakhaine is said to have derived from the Sanskrit Raksha and the Pali Yakkha, signifying a monster or a demon. The Arakanese rulers ruled the region till 1666. In fact, this region frequently changed hands between the rulers of Tripura and Arakan. The Mughals controlled the area from 1666 to 1760. In 1760 the area was ceded to the British East India Company. From the medieval period, Baisabi has been the prime festival of the Marma and Chakma tribal groups of Chittagong Hill Tracts.

They wear colourful traditional dresses, organise traditional sports, and cook special vegetable curry called pachan. This curry has a spiritual significance since the tribes believe that this curry acts as a protection against diseases and ill-fortune throughout the upcoming year. The Water Festival of the Marmas — a traditional ritual of dousing each other with water in order to wash away the sins of yesteryear — is held during this time. The Rakhains tribe enacts a similar ritual to mark the New Year.

While Bengali urbanites hold rallies, fairs, and cultural functions across the city to welcome the Nababarsha, in the countryside the fairs have retained their traditional feel. Cock-fights, wrestling, special cuisine, and cultural events are the centre of the celebration. The tradition of horse racing has, however, declined in the last few decades.

Beyond Bangladesh

ALTHOUGH I have discussed the Nababarsha celebrations in Dhaka and referred to the activities in the Bangladeshi countryside, similar kinds of New Year celebrations can be found throughout South Asia including Sri Lanka. The people of Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos celebrate their New Year during the month of April. Even in India, especially in West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura, and from Punjab to Arunachal, irrespective of caste, custom, and culture, New Year celebrations are held at this time of the year. The Assamese call it Bihu, the Burmese call it Thingyan, and for the Thai it is Songran. The Burmese and Thai words supposedly originated from the Sanskrit word sangkranti, which signifies the passage from one zodiac sign to another.

Home beyond home

THE Bangladeshi community in North America also observes Nababarsha. New York is the centre of this celebration. In the past few years, observing Nababarsha has become one of the hallmarks of the Bangladeshi community in New York and is as important as the observance of Ekushey February. Numerous Bangladeshi organisations, small and large, present cultural events during the week of Bangla New Year, especially in the borough of Queens. Rehearsals for these events generally begin in February. Drama Circle, a pioneer cultural front in Queens, has been playing a lead role in presenting cultural shows to mark the occasion. In 2004, the New York based Biswa Sahitya Kendra, the local chapter of the parent organisation in Dhaka, organised its third annual Kendra mela to coincide with the Nababarsha celebration.

Performers arrived from Boston (Massachusetts), Rochester (New York), Paterson (New Jersey), and elsewhere. Screenings of contemporary Bengali classic films, poetry recitals and workshops, exhibitions of traditional handicrafts, and boutiques were the main attractions of the Kendra mela. Simultaneously, Muktadhara, the premier Bengali bookstore in New York, organised what it termed a ‘sahityer asar’, a concert of literature. Prominent authors and critics, both from Dhaka and Kolkata, attended and spoke about issues and trends pertinent to contemporary Bengali literature.

Such events with popular writers from home keep the Bangladeshi immigrant community abreast of contemporary literary developments.

The special traditional cuisine of Nababarsha is an important part of these events. Along with a variety of snacks, local Bangladeshi restaurants serve traditional sweets and cakes. Jackson Heights and Hillside Avenue of Queens borough are the main centres for Bengali cuisine in New York. Beside sweets and pithas, the most important item on the menu of Nababarsha meal is machh-bhat, fish and rice.

On the day of Nababarsha, people eat fish and rice at the Bangladeshi owned eateries in Queens borough of New York. For many people, these celebrations of Bengali festivities are matters both of keeping the lines open to back home and nostalgia. Those who have settled recently in the United States do not want to lose all touch with the celebrations in Bangladesh which they recently celebrated in their nation of origin. Those who have lived in the United States and later returned to Bangladesh remember their participations in the festivities celebrated in the United States. And those who have lived in America for many years nostalgically recall their homeland.

They talk about their experiences of diasporic life in the United States, and how hard it is to preserve their Bengali ethos and identity in an alien land. This alien land is now one of the main venues, outside Bangladesh, where the Bengali identity is displayed through the observance of Ekushey February and Nababarsha.

 Burkina Faso’s military junta declared on Thursday a ‘general mobilisation’ to give the state ‘all necessary means’ to combat a string of jihadist attacks since the start of this year.

The goal is to create a ‘legal framework for all the actions to be taken’ against the insurgents, a statement from the presidency said.

Captain Ibrahim Traore, Burkina’s transitional president who staged the most recent coup on September 30, has set a goal of recapturing 40 percent of the country’s territory, which is controlled by jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. 

‘Faced with this security situation, the health of the nation depends on a surge of national spirit by all its daughters and sons in order to find a solution,’ Defence Minister Colonel Major Kassoum Coulibaly said in a statement.

Details of the plan were not disclosed, though a security source told AFP it would include ‘a state of emergency for the affected territories’.

Authorities also issued an ‘advisory’ that gives the president ‘the right to requisition people, goods and services and the right to restrain certain civil liberties’, according to another security source.

The government had already announced in February a plan to recruit 5,000 additional soldiers to battle the deadly insurgency that has gripped one of the world’s poorest countries since 2015. 

Last week, 44 civilians were reported killed by ‘armed terrorist groups’ in two villages in northeastern Burkina Faso, near the Niger border.

It was one of the deadliest attacks against civilians since Traore came to power last September, after 51 soldiers were killed in February in an attack on Deou, in the far north of the country.

On Tuesday, the defence minister launched a call for current and retired military personnel to hand in unused uniforms to help outfit army combattants.

The violence has left more than 10,000 people dead over the past seven years, according to non-governmental aid groups, and displaced two million people from their homes. 

 This handout picture taken and released by the Brazilian Presidency on April 14, 2023 shows Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (L) shaking hands with Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress before their meeting at Great Hall of the People in Beijing. – AFP photo.

Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is set to forge closer ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Beijing on Friday, a day after he lashed out at the power of the US dollar and the IMF.

The veteran leftist, whose government recently announced a deal with Beijing to trade in their own currencies -- ditching the dollar as an intermediary -- is in China to boost ties with his country’s top trading partner and spread his message that ‘Brazil is back’ as a key player on the global stage.

‘Why should every country have to be tied to the dollar for trade?... Who decided the dollar would be the (world’s) currency?’ Lula said in Shanghai at a ceremony to inaugurate his political ally Dilma Rousseff as president of the development bank set up by the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

‘Why can’t a bank like the BRICS bank have a currency to finance trade between Brazil and China, between Brazil and other BRICS countries?... Today, countries have to chase after dollars to export, when they could be exporting in their own currencies.’

Lula also had strong words for the International Monetary Fund, alluding to accusations the IMF forces overly harsh spending cuts on cash-strapped countries like Brazil’s neighbour Argentina in exchange for bailout loans.

‘No bank should be asphyxiating countries’ economies the way the IMF is doing now with Argentina, or the way they did with Brazil for a long time and every third-world country,’ he said.

‘No leader can work with a knife to their throat because (their country) owes money.’

Lula, who took office in January, is looking to reposition Brazil as a global go-between and deal broker, seeking friendly ties across the board after four years of relative isolation under his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.

The Brazilian leader on Friday attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square, and is due to meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People later, followed by talks with Xi. 

‘Brazil is back!’ Lula promised in Shanghai, where he arrived on Wednesday night.

‘The time when Brazil was absent from major world decisions is in the past. We are back on the international stage, after an inexplicable absence.’

One of the main topics on the agenda when Lula and Xi meet is expected to be the Ukraine war.

Brazil has positioned itself as a mediator in the conflict, while China is under pressure to do more. There are concerns in the West that they both are overly cosy with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Both countries have refused to join Western nations in imposing sanctions on Russia for its invasion.

The Shanghai leg of Lula’s trip highlighted another key goal of the visit -- deepening trade ties between the Asian giant and Latin America’s biggest economy.

China is Brazil’s biggest export market, buying tens of billions of dollars’ worth of soybeans, beef and iron ore.

Under the currency deal announced in March, Brazil and China have named two banks -- one in each country -- to conduct their massive trade and financial transactions by directly exchanging yuan for reais and vice versa, instead of going through the dollar.

China has similar deals with Russia, Pakistan and several other countries.

Lula, who previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, visited US President Joe Biden in February.

He is now seeking to smooth relations with China, after ties deteriorated under Bolsonaro.

The 77-year-old president was initially scheduled to make the trip in late March, but had to postpone it after coming down with pneumonia.

He is travelling with a large delegation of about 40 high-level officials, including cabinet ministers, governors and members of Congress.

 A Ukrainian infantryman of the 57th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade ‘Otaman Kost Khordienko’ fires an assault rifle at enemy positions from a trench at an undisclosed location near the town of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine on April 13, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. – AFP photo.

Russia said on Friday that it was pushing to take the western districts of the frontline hotspot of Bakhmut, as sources told AFP Ukraine was still sending in fresh troops.

Moscow has been trying to capture Bakhmut since last summer in what has become the longest and bloodiest battle since Russia invaded more than a year ago.

On Friday, the Russian defence ministry said  mercenaries from the Wagner paramilitary outfit were advancing further into the city, supported by Moscow’s air force. 

‘Wagner assault units are conducting high-intensity combat operations to conquer the western districts of the city,’ it said in a statement.

Russian airborne troops were ‘providing support to assault squads and halting the enemy’s attempts to deliver ammunition to the city and bring in reserves.’ 

On Thursday, Moscow claimed to have cut off Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut. Kyiv denied the claim, saying it had access to its troops and was able to send in munitions. 

Ukraine has vowed to continue defending Bakhmut. 

But on the ground Ukrainian sources near Bakhmut told AFP on Friday that Kyiv’s forces were in a ‘difficult’ position. 

‘I know that many of our soldiers are missing, that positions were lost and it was impossible to evacuate or withdraw the troops,’ an army source said. 

He said that Ukraine was still ‘bringing in fresh people’ into Bakhmut. 

Separately, an intelligence source said any pull-out from Bakhmut would be slow and gradual, as there was only a narrow escape path left.  

 This aerial footage screen grab made from handout video released on April 13, 2023 by WBZ via CBS shows the suspect national guardsman Jack Teixeira taken into custody by FBI agents in a forested area in North Dighton, in the northeastern state of Massachusetts. FBI agents on Thursday arrested a young national guardsman suspected of being behind a major leak of sensitive US government secrets -- including about the Ukraine war. –AFP photo.

A 21-year-old United States national guardsman was charged with leaking a trove of classified United States government documents as he made his first appearance in court Friday.

Jack Teixeira was arrested Thursday following a week-long probe into one of the most damaging leaks of secrets since the 2013 dump of National Security Agency documents by Edward Snowden.

He was charged with the ‘unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information’ at a short hearing in Boston.

He is also accused of the ‘unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material.’

The embarrassing security breach has revealed American concerns about weaknesses in Ukraine’s military, and pointed to US spying on allies including Israel and South Korea.

Teixeira appeared before a judge at Massachusetts federal court in Boston at 10:00 am (1400 GMT).

He was not required to enter a plea and was detained pending a detention hearing set for next Wednesday.

He is suspected of posting the documents, some dated as recently as early March, to a private chat group on the social media platform Discord.

The New York Times reported that Teixeira was the leader of the group called Thug Shaker Central and reportedly posted the documents under the nickname ‘OG’.

He first wrote down the contents of classified documents to share with the group, but later began taking photos, telling other members not to share them, according to the Washington Post.

Some of the documents later appeared on other sites, including Twitter, 4Chan and Telegram.

Investigators have not yet suggested what Teixeira’s motive was. 

He enlisted with the US Air Force National Guard in September 2019 and was an IT and communications specialist who reached the rank of airman first class -- the third-lowest for enlisted air force personnel.

The leak has raised questions about why someone in such a junior position had access to such potentially damaging secrets.

Friends of Teixeira described him to the Washington Post as a devout Catholic and libertarian who is interested in guns.

The newspaper reported that he comes from a family with decades of military service. His father spent 34 years in the same military unit as his son while Teixeira’s mother worked for non-profit organizations that support veterans.

Teixeira’s dramatic arrest at his home in the southern Massachusetts town of North Dighton was broadcast live on US TV networks Thursday.

Helicopter footage of the operation showed the suspect dressed in red shorts and a T-shirt with his hands behind his head, backing slowly toward rifle-armed, camouflage-clad law enforcement personnel who took him into custody.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters that Teixeira had been arrested ‘in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information.’

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he was ordering a ‘review of our intelligence access, accountability and control procedures within the (Defense) Department to inform our efforts to prevent this kind of incident from happening again.’

 This picture taken on April 13, 2023 and released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 14 shows the test-fire of the new Hwasongpho-18 ICBM at an undisclosed location in North Korea. North Korea said on April 14 it had successfully tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, which state media hailed as a key breakthrough for the country's nuclear counterattack capabilities. – AFP photo.

Photographs released by Pyongyang’s state media Friday showed leader Kim Jong Un -- accompanied by his wife, sister and young daughter -- watching a missile blast off in a cloud of smoke and smiling in jubilation after the purportedly successful launch.

‘A new-type ICBM, Hwasong-18, which will fulfill its mission of an important war deterrent as the future core pivotal means of the strategic force of the DPRK (North Korea), was test-fired,’ the official Korean Central News Agency said.

Testing the more technologically advanced solid-fuel missile was one of Kim’s major goals in his military modernisation campaign, announced in his New Year report.

Such missiles are easier to store and transport, more stable and quicker to prepare for launch, and thus harder to detect and destroy pre-emptively.

‘The aim of the test-fire was to confirm the performance of the high-thrust solid-fuel engines for multi-stage missiles (and) estimate the military feasibility of the new strategic weapon system,’ KCNA said.

Kim said the new weapon would ‘radically promote the effectiveness of its nuclear counterattack posture’ and allow the North to ‘constantly strike extreme uneasiness and horror’ into its enemies, KCNA added.

The images shared by state media and details provided by the South Korean military indicate the test was indeed the North’s first successful launch of a solid-fuel missile, US-based analyst Ankit Panda told AFP. 

‘The missile’s exhaust plume is consistent with a dirty, smoky solid propellant at work,’ he said.

‘We also know from government authorities in South Korea that this missile flew high, and the North Koreans also appear to have released images showing that all stages successfully separated in the course of the missile’s flight.’

All of Pyongyang’s previously known intercontinental ballistic missiles have been liquid-fuelled, and the Friday test marks a long-desired breakthrough for the country’s banned weapons programs. 

It also fits the standard ‘pattern of provocation’ by the North, which likes to first show off, then test new weapons, Go Myong-hyun, researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, told AFP.

At a military parade in Pyongyang in February, North Korea displayed a record number of nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missiles, including what analysts said was possibly a new solid-fuel ICBM.

‘The reason North Korea is obsessed with solid-fuel missiles is because it will significantly reduce the preparation time before launch,’ Go said.

‘This is important, as the longer it takes after bringing out the missile from a silo or a tunnel, the higher the possibility of destruction before launch.’

The announcement comes a day before North Korea is set to mark one of its most important political anniversaries, the Day of the Sun on April 15. 

The date commemorates founding leader Kim Il Sung’s birthday and has typically been celebrated with significant weapons tests or military parades.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang declaring itself an ‘irreversible’ nuclear power last year, effectively ending the possibility of denuclearisation talks.

Kim also ordered the military this year to intensify drills to prepare for a ‘real war’.

Washington and Seoul have ramped up defence cooperation in response, staging joint military exercises with advanced stealth jets and high-profile US strategic assets.

North Korea views such exercises as rehearsals for invasion and described them on Tuesday as ‘frantic’ drills ‘simulating an all-out war against’ Pyongyang.