North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a live fire drill of nuclear-capable “super-large” multiple rocket launchers which are designed to target the South Korean capital Seoul, reported Pyongyang’s state media, on Tuesday (Mar 19).
The media report came a day after South Korea and Japan said North Korea fired ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan for the first time in two months when Washington’s top diplomat was in Seoul to attend a conference.
Kim oversees live fire drills
The live fire drills took place on Monday (Mar 18), according to the KCNA, to test the “real war capabilities” of the 600-millimetre multiple rocket launchers and improve the operators’ combat readiness.
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According to the state media report, some of the systems tested on Monday included the 600mm multiple rocket launchers which were capable of delivering tactical nuclear warheads.
The drills also reportedly saw the simulation of an air explosion of a shell of the super-large multiple rocket launcher at a preset altitude above the target.
The unit displayed “high mobility and accurate and strong striking power” in carrying out a sudden combat mission, reported the KCNA.
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Kim called the recently tested multiple rocket launchers a key part of the country’s growing arsenal of weapons, as per the media report, which would supposedly be used to target Seoul if another war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula.
The North Korean leader said “it is necessary to further impress upon the enemies that if an armed conflict and a war break out, they can never avoid disastrous consequences,” as quoted by the KCNA.
He also called on his army to “more thoroughly fulfil their missions to block and suppress the possibility of war with the constant perfect preparedness to collapse the capital of the enemy and the structure of its military forces.”
South Korea on the multiple rocket launchers
On Monday, South Korean and Japanese militaries reported that North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was attending a conference hosted by President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul.
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The launch also came days after the United States and South Korea concluded their large-scale annual joint military drills.
If Pyongyang fires a large number of conventional missiles against the South, it would “constitute a war” and prompt strong retaliatory attacks, Seoul’s defence minister, Shin Won-sik warned on Monday when asked about the North’s multiple rocket launches.
