Pyongyang, 5 August 2024 (TDI): North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has presided over a ceremony to mark the delivery of 250 new tactical ballistic missile launchers to military units at the border.
State media shared images of the ceremony held in Pyongyang on Sunday, showing camouflage-coloured launcher trucks lined up on a floodlit square decked out with flags. Soldiers stood in formation for the ceremony, which included a fireworks display.
Addressing the crowds, Kim termed the launchers as an “up-to-date tactical attack weapon” that he had “personally designed”.
North Korea has been expanding its range of mobile short-range weapons developed to overwhelm missile defences in neighbouring South Korea, while also designing intercontinental ballistic missiles to reach the continental United States.
North Korea said it tested a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a “superlarge warhead” in July.
We believe the missile launchers are intended to be used in different ways, such as to attack or threaten South Korea. Deploying near the border would mean that the range is not long, Lee Sung-joon, the spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a press briefing.
In his speech, Kim blamed US for creating a “nuclear-based military block” that had forced his nation to further strengthen its military capabilities.
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Pyongyang has long condemned joint exercises between South Korea and the US as a rehearsal for invasion.
A spokesperson for Seoul’s Ministry of Unification for handling inter-Korean affairs said it was Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs, pursued in defiance of UN sanctions that were the primary threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
Ties between North Korea and South Korea are at one of their lowest points in years, with a 2018 military deal designed to reduce tension in tatters.
