North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over a ceremony marking the delivery of 250 new tactical ballistic missile launchers to military units at the border. The state media outlet KCNA shared images of the Pyongyang ceremony, which took place after dark on Sunday. The photographs depicted camouflage-coloured launcher trucks lined up on a floodlit square adorned with flags, with soldiers standing in formation. The event also featured a fireworks display.
Addressing the crowds, Kim described 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 designed to overwhelm missile defences in neighbouring South Korea, while also developing intercontinental ballistic missiles aimed at reaching the continental United States.
North Korea claimed it tested a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a “superlarge warhead” last month. Tactical weaponry typically refers to systems capable of delivering lower-yield nuclear weapons.
“We believe [the missile launchers] are intended to be used in various ways, such as to attack or threaten South Korea… Deploying near the border would mean that the range is not long,” Lee Sung-joon, spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a media briefing.
In his speech, Kim blamed Washington for creating a “nuclear-based military block” that had forced his country to further strengthen its military capabilities. North Korea has long condemned joint drills between the United States and South Korea as rehearsals for invasion.
A spokesperson for Seoul’s Ministry of Unification, responsible for inter-Korean affairs, stated that it was North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes, pursued in defiance of United Nations sanctions, that posed the primary threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with a 2018 military agreement designed to reduce tension now in tatters. North Korea has moved troops to the border, ramped up weapons testing, and sent hundreds of balloons stuffed with rubbish to South Korea. Kim has also deepened ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Source ~ AL JAZEERA
NNEOMA UDENSI
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