No, they’re not characters from the new season of Money Heist...
To mark the communist state’s 73rd founding anniversary, the North Korean soldiers held the military parade in hazmat suits. Since North Korea has been suffering from food shortages and economic crisis during the pandemic, the state did not spend too much on the parade and there was no display of ballistic missiles either. The military parade was attended by their leader, Kim Jong-un who himself was not wearing a mask and looking thinner than usual.
During the parade, one section of soldiers and workers marched in bright red hazmat suits and gas masks which may have been indicating towards a special task force created to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
North Korea holds the parade for two main reasons. It’s a way for the country to show off its new military weapons and technologies to the outside world so they know better than to mess with them. The other reason is that the parade serves as a sort of morale booster for the citizens and is a means of providing domestic support. By watching the massive display of strength and missiles, their leader believes that the people would cheer up and even forget about their empty stomachs.
The display of the red Hazmat suit unit during the parade comes as a bit contradictory to the state’s claim of not having any cases of the COVID-19 virus. What’s more unusual is that North Korea has held three parades in the last twelve months, which is a bit too frequent even by their standards. It’s especially concerning since the country has not received any vaccines and neither is anyone bothering to wear a mask in public gatherings. One can only hope, Kim Jong Un knows what he’s doing by exposing so many people to the virus