North Korean showcases shirtless soldiers lying on broken glass, smashing bricks on head

North Korean state media on Tuesday released footage of a staged military exhibition intended to show enemies that its soldiers had “iron fists” to protect the country.

The video, reportedly recorded Monday, showed totalitarian leader Kim Jong Un smiling as uniformed soldiers performed various martial art demonstrations, including smashing bricks with bare hands, breaking slabs of concrete on shirtless soldiers’ stomachs with a sledge hammer and even smashing bricks on their heads. 

Kim said he aimed to build an “invincible” military to counter “hostile forces” from the U.S. 

“Recently, the United States has frequently sent signals that it is not hostile to our state, but its behaviors provide us with no reason why we should believe in them,” he said in a speech after the exhibition, according to the state media outlet official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“The United States is still generating regional tension with its wrong judgment and acts,” he added.

North Korea has recently conducted several missile tests aiming to “reliably guaranteeing the security of our state,” KCNA wrote at the time. Officials in South Korea and the United States have continued to monitor the tests.

However, Kim criticized South Korean authorities for “its hypocritical and brigandish double-dealing attitude,” adding that North Korea has the “right” to build their self-defense.

“While doing everything they want to do, the South Korean authorities, with a view to depriving us of our self-defensive right to develop defense capability, volunteer to lead the anti-DPRK propaganda campaign of the hostile forces headed by the United States, wantonly labeling even our tests of conventional weapons as armed provocations, threats and inappropriate deeds aggravating tensions,” he said, according to the state news outlet.

The exhibition celebrated the 76th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea. The event was reportedly the first of its kind since Kim took office in 2011, The Washington Post reported, citing South Korean officials.