Kim Jong Un oversees 'super-large' rocket launcher firing drills

Kim Jong Un oversees 'super-large' rocket launcher firing drills
by Thomas Maresca
Washington DC (UPI) Mar 19, 2024

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a firing drill of "super-large multiple rocket launchers," state media reported Tuesday, an exercise that South Korea had described as a short-range ballistic missile launch a day earlier.

The drill, held Monday in the west of the country, was "aimed at proving the might and the real war capabilities of the weapon system through the sudden maneuvers and salvos of 600mm multiple rocket sub-units," state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

Images released by KCNA showed six batteries of rocket launchers firing simultaneously.

The United States and South Korea refer to the North's super-large multiple-launch rocket system as the KN-25 and analysts characterize it as a short-range ballistic missile. North Korea has claimed since October 2022 that the weapon can be fitted with a tactical nuclear warhead.

The exercises included hitting targets in the sea and simulating the midair detonation of a shell at a preset altitude, KCNA said.

Kim called the artillery units "the main combatants and the mainstay of war to annihilate the enemy without hesitation," according to KCNA.

"The destructive offensive means possessed by our army should more thoroughly fulfill their missions to block and deter the risks of war with the constant perfect preparedness to destroy the capital of the enemy and the structure of its military forces," Kim said.

South Korea's military said Monday that it had detected the launch of multiple projectiles believed to be short-range ballistic missiles. The missiles were fired from the Pyongyang area and traveled roughly 185 miles before landing in the East Sea, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The launch came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Seoul for a democracy summit and followed days after the United States and South Korea wrapped up a large-scale joint military exercise.

The ballistic missile launch was the first by North Korea since Jan. 14, when it tested what it said was a new solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile.

Pyongyang has also fired several rounds of cruise missiles since the beginning of the year and has kept up a steady stream of threats and military exercises, including recent visits by leader Kim Jong Un to live-fire artillery drills and tank combat training.