Experts say North Korea’s large-scale rockets blur the lines between artillery systems and ballistic missiles because they can create their own thrust and are guided during delivery.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accompanied by his teenage daughter, observed a live test of multiple missile launch systems, state media reported Sunday, a possible response to ongoing U.S.-Korean military drills that North Korea sees as a test of invasion.
The Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim attended the strike drill involving twelve 600mm, ultra-precision missile launchers off North Korea’s east coast on Saturday.
South Korea’s military said Saturday it detected about 10 ballistic missiles fired from North Korea’s capital region toward the East Sea. South Korea’s National Security Council called the launches a provocation that violates UN Security Council resolutions banning any ballistic activity by North Korea.
KCNA quoted Kim as saying the exercise would expose enemies within a 420-kilometer (260-mile) strike range to “concern” and give them “a deep understanding of the destructive power of tactical nuclear weapons,” KCNA said. He apparently referred to South Korea and US troops stationed in South Korea.
“If this weapon is used, the adversary’s military infrastructure within its striking range can never survive,” Kim said, according to KCNA.
KCNA photos showed Kim and his daughter, said to be Kim Ju Ae and aged about 13, walking by large olive-colored launch trucks and watching weapons being fired from them. The daughter has accompanied her father to numerous high-profile events such as missile tests and military parades since late 2022, fueling outside speculation that she is being groomed as his heir.
Experts say North Korea’s large-scale rockets blur the lines between artillery systems and ballistic missiles because they can create their own thrust and are guided during delivery. North Korea has said some of these systems are capable of delivering nuclear warheads.
The US-South Korea spring exercise, Freedom Shield, a computer-simulated exercise, will run until March 19. North Korea often reacts to the exercise with its own weapons tests and fiery rhetoric.
By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press
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