North Korea said on Wednesday it test-fired a new multi-role missile launch system and a multi-strategic cruise missile weapon system, highlighting Pyongyang’s efforts to continually upgrade its strategic and conventional arsenal.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the tests were supervised by the country’s leader Kim Jong Un.
They assessed the power of “special mission warheads” on tactical ballistic missiles, the reliability of long-range multiple-launch artillery rockets and the accuracy of AI-guided tactical cruise missiles, KCNA said.
South Korea’s military, first reporting the tests on Tuesday, said the North had fired several projectiles, including a ballistic missile, off its west coast.
Seoul said the missiles flew about 80 kilometers (50 miles).
What did Kim say about the tests?
Kim said “the major weapons systems are a clear sign of the upgrading of our military force and an event to show great technological progress,” KCNA quoted him as saying.
According to the report, he said, “It is an essential condition for our Army’s operations that it must have such destructive power as to make it impossible in principle for any encountering force to survive except by luck.”
Cruise missiles will be deployed near the border with South Korea, Kim said.
Pyongyang has declared Seoul its “primary enemy” and abandoned its policy of eventual reunification of the two Koreas.
The latest launch was North Korea’s first test in 37 days and its eighth this year.
The country has been subject to various international sanctions restricting its nuclear weapons development and use of ballistic missile technology,
But Pyongyang has repeatedly violated sanctions.
Edited by: Saim Inayatullah