DPRK's Kim oversees 'super-large' rocket launcher drills: State media
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The Korean Central News Agency says Kim guided the drills that tested the "real war capabilities" of 600-millimeter multiple rocket launchers.
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This picture taken on March 18, 2024, and released by the DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 19, 2024, shows the DPRK's Western Region Artillery Unit's ultra-large rocket salvo firing drill, at an unconfirmed location in the DPRK. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
DPRK leader Kim Jong Un oversaw firing drills involving "newly-equipped super-large" multiple rocket launchers, state media confirmed Tuesday, a day after Seoul said Pyongyang had fired several short-range ballistic missiles as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited South Korea.
The super-large multiple rocket launcher, referred to as KN-25 by the Seoul-Washington military, is a short-range ballistic missile, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.
The DPRK has said the weapon has the capability to be equipped with a tactical nuclear warhead.
Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim guided the drills on Monday that tested the "real war capabilities" of 600-millimeter multiple rocket launchers as he stressed the importance of "war preparations."
The drills also involved simulating an aerial explosion of a shell from the super-large multiple rocket launcher at a predetermined altitude above the target, KCNA said.
Kim said the multiple rocket launcher would help his country "block and suppress the possibility of war with the constant perfect preparedness to collapse the capital of the enemy," according to the report.
During the drills, DPRK artillerymen "demonstrated their excellent crack-shot artillery marksmanship and prompt and thorough combat readiness," it added.
"Massive shells of super-large multiple rocket launchers, which were fired from the sharp gun barrels like lava, flew to the target with the flame of annihilating the enemy," it said.
Key security allies Washington and Seoul wrapped up one of their major annual joint military training exercises last week, prompting tit-for-tat drills from Pyongyang.
Last week's Washington-Seoul drills included "clearing operations" inside DPRK's "key facilities" in case of an attack by Pyongyang, according to Seoul's military.
Pyongyang this month warned that Seoul and Washington would pay a "dear price" over their military exercises, and later announced that Kim had guided an artillery unit it says was capable of striking the South Korean capital.
According to DPRK state media, Kim last week also oversaw paratroop drills aimed at showing his soldiers' ability to occupy an "enemy region at a stroke."
Monday's ballistic missile test is Pyongyang's second this year after it launched one tipped with a maneuverable hypersonic warhead on January 14.
