North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a live-fire exercise involving a “very large” multiple rocket launcher capable of targeting the South Korean capital with nuclear-capable warheads, state media said, vowing to boost war deterrence in the face of deepening confrontation with his rivals Power Tuesday.
The report came a day after the South Korean and Japanese militaries said they had detected North Korea launching multiple short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast, adding to a series of weapons displays that have heightened regional tensions.
Experts say North Korea’s large artillery rockets blur the lines between artillery systems and ballistic missiles because they can generate their own thrust and be guided during launch. North Korea says some of the systems are capable of launching tactical nuclear warheads, including a 600mm multiple rocket launcher tested on Monday.
Photos released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency showed the launch vehicle firing at least six rockets simultaneously, with flames and smoke covering a small island target.
North Korean troops also conducted a separate test after the salvo, simulating artillery shells exploding in the air at a preset height, KCNA said. The report did not specify whether the test was a practice for detonating a nuclear weapon on an enemy target.
Kim Jong Un has called the 600mm multiple rocket launchers a key component of his growing arsenal, which he says is capable of destroying the South Korean capital Seoul if another war breaks out on the Korean peninsula.
KCNA said: “(Kim Jong-un) stated that it is necessary to further let the enemy understand that if armed conflict and war break out, they will never be able to avoid catastrophic consequences.” He asked the military to “fulfill the mission of blocking and suppressing the possibility of war more thoroughly.” , be fully prepared at all times to dismantle the enemy’s capital and military force structure.”
North Korea’s launches came just days after the latest joint South Korea-U.S. military drills, which North Korea described as a rehearsal for an invasion. It was unclear whether North Korea timed the launch to coincide with a visit to Seoul by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Blinken attended a democracy summit on Monday and held talks with South Korean officials over the North Korean threat.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have increased since 2022 when Kim Jong Un used Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate the testing of missiles and other weapons. The United States and South Korea responded by expanding joint training and trilateral exercises involving Japan and updating their deterrence strategy around U.S. strategic assets.
There are concerns that North Korea could further ratchet up pressure in the U.S. and South Korea during an election year.
In a fiery speech in Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp parliament in January, Kim announced that he would abandon his long-standing goal of rapprochement between North and South Korea and ordered a rewrite of the North’s constitution to cement his divided rival’s status as the most hostile rival. . He said the new charter must clearly state that North Korea will annex and conquer South Korea if another war breaks out.
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