North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gives first speech

Breaking the pattern of seclusion made the norm by his father, Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s new leader Kim Jong-un gave a 20-minute speech in front of tens of thousands of North Koreans and broadcasted live across the country.

The speech professed the strength of the country’s armed forces, and promised strengthening the military was his “first, second and third priorities.”

The speech, which comes just days after the failed attempt to launch a satellite into Earth’s orbit via rocket, was followed by what CNN called North Korea’s “biggest display of weapons in a military parade, including what appeared to be the largest missile the North has ever unveiled.”

Making the speech on the 100th birthday of Kim Il-sung, Jong-un’s speech broke the silence of his father and former leader of North Korea, who notoriously avoided public attention. CNN reported North Koreans did not even hear Jong-il’s voice until a broadcast in 1992, when he shouted a single sentence into a microphone.