Click to see full-size image. (Korean Central News Agency)
North Korea conducted a series of tests of upgraded artillery, rocket and missile systems on June 25, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The state-run news agency said that leader Kim Jong Un supervised the tests as part of a five-year national defense modernization plan.
The tests assessed the combat performance of an upgraded 240mm 24-tube multiple rocket launcher, a tactical ballistic missile equipped with a special mission warhead, and extended-range 155mm self-propelled howitzer shells.
The improved multiple rocket launcher now has a firing range of 90 kilometers and features automated fire-control systems with self-guided precision technology, according to KCNA.
In photos released by the agency, the launcher appeared similar in design to a copy of the American M142 HIMARS tested by North Korea last May, although not exactly identical.
Click to see full-size image. (Korean Central News Agency)
Click to see full-size image. (Korean Central News Agency)
Click to see full-size image. (Korean Central News Agency)
Click to see full-size image. (Korean Central News Agency)
With regard to the tactical ballistic missile tested, KCNA said that it has a special warhead designed to strike strategic targets, including airfields, ports and power facilities. The missile appeared to be a new version of the Hwasong-11Ra, which is a copy of the American MGM-140 ATACMS tactical ballistic missile.
Click to see full-size image. (Korean Central News Agency)
Click to see full-size image. (Korean Central News Agency)
Click to see full-size image. (Korean Central News Agency)
Meanwhile, KCNA reported that the new artillery shells tested have an effective range of 65 kilometers. According to the agency’s photos, they were fired from the Juche 107th Year Type 155 mm Self-propelled Howitzer, which was first unveiled in 2018.
Click to see full-size image. (Korean Central News Agency)
Click to see full-size image. (Korean Central News Agency)
Kim said that the tests demonstrated “the great technological progress” achieved under the ruling Workers’ Party’s military modernization policy.
“The present international situation, in which sovereignty can be defended and existence guaranteed only by complete upper-hand in strength, makes it unnecessary to add any rhetoric to explain why the bolstering up of the defense capabilities is the indispensable first national strategic work,” Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA.
He also reiterated that Pyongyang’s policy aims not only to strengthen defensive capabilities but also to build “a deadly and destructive offensive posture” that would deter potential adversaries.
“We would make the enemies recognize that the long-range strike means of our armed forces have been replaced with upgraded ones in the shortest possible time,” Kim said.
The upgraded artillery, rocket and missile systems test fired by North Korea could pose a serious threat to Seoul, the densely populated capital of South Korea, which is located just around 60 kilometers away from the Demilitarized Zone border.
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the achievements of nk are all the more impressive when you consider it is a small country subject to vicious amerikunt aggression and economic terrorism for more than 70 years. kim has transformed nk into a regional superpower immune from amerikunt murder and mayhem. without its nuclear and defence programmes, nk would have been attacked just like iraq, syria, libya, iran and venezuela. it has provided a model for other countries to follow.
this has only been achieved at great cost, with defence being prioritised rather than other needs. but the first duty of any regime is the protection of its people. those who demonise nk, and sneer at its economic difficulties and political system, would do well to remember that when the enemy is at the gates, a vicious, genocidal, nuclear armed us terrorist regime, everything has to be devoted to national survival.