SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea has deployed 250 ballistic missile launchers to its southern border, with leader Kim Jong-un describing the weapons as a “powerful treasured sword” to defend its sovereignty, state media said yesterday.
The olive green mobile launchers were displayed during a special “transferring” ceremony in the capital Pyongyang on Sunday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
The missile launchers were an “up-to-date tactical attack weapon”, Kim was quoted as saying in a speech.
It was the first time North Korea had publicised the scale of an arms transfer to its border units, Han Kwon-hee of the Korea Association of Defence Industry Studies told AFP. Each launcher was designed to hold four missiles, Han said, adding that Pyongyang’s supply of arms to Moscow might have “interfered with the North’s capacity to actually produce 1,000 missiles”.
Kim noted that presenting the new weapons at a time when the country was reeling from flood damage was a “manifestation of the firm will of our Party to push ahead with the bolstering of defence capabilities”.
Kim said in his speech that the country was facing a “significant and strategic shift due to the transformation of United States (US)-led alliances into nuclear-based military blocs”, a trend he said required an upgrade in war deterrence, according to a KCNA transcript.
“The strength of our armed forces… must continue to accelerate,” Kim said. Photos released by KCNA showed rows of mobile launchers positioned before a podium where Kim spoke.
Banners flown from a balloon painted with the North Korean flag read: “Let’s open the golden age of defence industry development under the leadership of the great comrade Kim!”
While it was possible that Pyongyang had previously deployed ballistic missile launchers to its southern border, Han said it was the first time he had “seen such official reports detailing the scale of arms transfers” to military units in the area.
Producing such a large number of weapons and displaying them together indicates the event had been “planned months in advance”, senior analyst Hong Min at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP.
“Producing 250 mobile launchers requires massive manpower and capital, which shows that the event on Sunday was not staged on a short notice,” he said.
