North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observes a weapons test in this image released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (KCNA)
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test-firing of an upgraded multiple rocket launcher this week at an unspecified location, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
The 240 mm rocket set-up tested on Tuesday was updated with a new guidance system, along with “maneuverability and concentrated firing capability,” KCNA reported the next day.
Kim reportedly called for the country to continue producing and equipping troops with new artillery weapons.
The test occurred while the U.S. and South Korea are engaged in the Ulchi Freedom Shield. The 11-day event is one of two large-scale military exercises conducted annually throughout the South.
Around 19,000 South Korean troops are participating in the exercise that began Aug. 19; roughly 2,000 flights were conducted by the U.S. and South Korean air forces last week.
North Korea has held several missile system tests so far this year. On March 18, Kim oversaw the firing of six “super-large” launchers firing 600 mm rounds simultaneously, which South Korea’s military characterized as short-range ballistic missiles.
The communist regime also tested the 240 mm system on May 10. These launchers are meant to replace older systems intended for use until 2026, KCNA reported at the time.
During an Aug. 4 ceremony in Pyongyang, Kim showcased 250 tactical ballistic missile launchers that would eventually be deployed to frontline military units, according to KCNA.
North Korea conducts a weapons test in this image released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (KCNA)
North Korea has fired at least two dozen ballistic missiles in eight separate days of testing so far this year. It last fired two ballistic missiles, one of them a short-range variant, toward the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, on July 1.
The second missile had an abnormal flight pattern and could not be identified, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said at the time.
Also Tuesday, the chief Pentagon spokesman said the United States and South Korea take the drone threat posed by North Korea seriously, “and it’s something that we’ll keep an eye on.”
Earlier this week, Kim oversaw the test of domestically produced military drones, including a one-way attack drone that struck an armored vehicle resembling the South’s K-2 Black Panther tank.
These “suicide drones of various types” were undergoing more tests and would be deployed to North Korean soldiers “as early as possible,” KNCA reported Saturday.
North Korea has “a long history here of destabilizing rhetoric and activities” and the U.S. and its regional allies are working to “to be prepared for any threats that North Korea presents,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a press conference in Washington, D.C.
