SEOUL (AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw the test-firing of a multiple rocket launcher, state media said on Friday, its latest weapons test.
Kim stressed “the need… to surely carry out the munitions production plan for this year in a qualitative way”, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
The rocket launcher “with new technology would bring about a strategic change in bolstering up the artillery force” of the North’s army, Kim said, according to KCNA.
Earlier this week, Pyongyang said Kim had overseen the country’s first ever “nuclear trigger” drills, which involved simulating a nuclear counterattack as a warning to enemies.
President of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul Yang Moo-jin, said based on the Friday announcement, the North seems to have achieved “some progress” in integrating guidance technology for precision strikes targeting South Korea’s capital region.
“The entire country resembles a missile defence industry expo,” he told AFP. Last year, North Korea conducted a record number of missile tests in defiance of UN sanctions in place since 2006 and despite warnings from Washington and Seoul.
Pyongyang declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear weapons state in 2022.
This year, Pyongyang has declared South Korea its “principal enemy”, jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and threatened war over “even 0.001mm” of territorial infringement.
