In one of its biggest demonstrations of its spacecraft prowess under Kim Jong Un, North Korea announced the deployment of 250 fresh mobile launchers to launch nuclear missiles capable of hitting South Korea and US bases there.
The new mobile launchers were transferred to line military units on Sunday at a ceremony attended by cheering masses and fireworks in Pyongyang, according to the standard Korean Central News Agency.
We need to be more carefully and thoroughly prepared for our national nuclear capabilities and nuclear posture, according to Kim, who was quoted by KCNA as saying. The fast changing world security environment and the uncontrolled expansion of US-led martial blocs.
Weapons authorities said the missiles are capable of holding four rockets each, and the images show that the launchers are being used to launch a short-range ballistic missile known as the Hwasong 11D. Although it was unclear whether North Korea actually produced 1, 000 of the missiles, tests have been conducted at distances of between 100 and 300 kilometers ( 62 miles, or 186 miles ).
In a matter of hours, rockets can be launched from the launchers while they are concealed and ready for quick-fire strikes.
The operations underscore Pyongyang’s challenges to South Korea that are “both radioactive and particularly conventional”, Vann Van Diepen, a former US federal official, wrote in a May article for the 38 North Program.
According to South Korean officials, the weapons are also a part of devices that North Korea has recently put on display for Russians to use during their conflict with Ukraine.
North Korea is accused of sending large volumes of ordnance shells, as well as its most recent family of short-range nuclear weapons, by the US, South Korea, and others. The accusations have been refuted by Pyongyang and Moscow.
As Kim has been releasing new missiles capable of attacking the US and its supporters in Asia, South Korea’s defence secretary Shin Wonsik has warned Pyongyang that it might be considering a nuclear test close to the US national election. A nuclear system was next tested in September 2017 in North Korea.
The South Korean government claims that the weekend event took place because a region in North Korea’s northwestern region has been battling storms that are thought to possess” considerable human toll.” The death toll figures have not been made public by the North Korean press.
Kim properly rejected the offer, saying that opponents are enemies, despite South Korea’s offer to provide humanitarian aid in the wake of the crisis. Otherwise, Kim said Pyongyang would get support from its” best friends in Moscow” if any assistance is needed, KCNA reported.
Since the area hit by the floods is a big grain maker, any loss of farmland increases food insecurity in a nation where, according to the UN World Food Program, 40 % of the populace is undernourished.
