North Korea test-fires large-caliber multiple rocket launcher with Kim in attendance

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center right, is seen overseeing the test-fire of an upgraded large-caliber multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS) at a facility in North Korea on Jan. 27, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 28. [KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY]

 
North Korea has test-fired an upgraded large-caliber multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS) to assess its effectiveness, overseen by leader Kim Jong-un, state media said Wednesday.
 
Tuesday’s test of four MRLS rockets employing new technology hit a target in waters 358.5 kilometers (223 miles) away from the point of launch, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
 
 
The previous day, South Korea’s military detected multiple short-range ballistic missiles launched from north of Pyongyang toward the East Sea, as the regime is widely expected to convene its first ruling party congress in five years early next month, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.


South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are reportedly analyzing the possibility that North Korea fired the 600mm super-large multiple rocket launcher (KN-25), which it also launched on May 8 last year. The 600mm super-large multiple rocket launcher is a weapon system capable of striking key South Korean facilities.
 
The KCNA quoted Kim as saying that the ninth congress “will clarify the next-stage plans for further bolstering up the country’s nuclear deterrent.”


“[The missile] test is of great significance in improving the effectiveness of our strategic deterrent,” Kim said in the KCNA report. “That is because we have achieved technical upgrading of this weapon system to employ its most powerful characteristics most appropriately and effectively, and thus made it possible to apply it in specific attacks.”
 

North Korea test-fires an upgraded large-caliber multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS) to assess its effectiveness on Jan. 27, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 28. [KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY]

 
He also described the weapon’s “self-steered precisely guided flight system” as a major feature, touting “the steady improvement and uninterrupted evolution of our defense technology.”
 
He said the relevant activities were aimed solely at raising the level of the country’s “deterrent against a nuclear war.”
 
“To build up the most reliable offensive capability and enforce the deterrence strategy based on it is the invariable line of our party’s national defense policy,” the KCNA also quoted him as saying.
 
“All the indexes have been improved to maximize their strike capability, and the mobility, intelligence and hitting accuracy of the rockets, in particular, have remarkably been upgraded,” Kim also said.
 
Emphasizing that the mobility of the newly-modernized launcher vehicle is “perfect,” Kim stressed that the “self-steered precisely guided flight system, which can neglect any outside intervention,” is a major feature that “demonstrates the superiority of this weapon system.”
 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center back, is seen overseeing the test-fire of an upgraded large-caliber multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS) at a facility in North Korea on Jan. 27, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 28. [KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY]

 
Released photos showed Kim’s daughter Ju-ae accompanying him to the test, along with Kim Jong-sik, first vice department director of the party’s Central Committee, and Jang Chang-ha, chief of the Missile Administration.
 
The missile launch appears to be a show of muscle flexing as the North is expected to unveil five-year development plans for defense, the economy and other fields at the upcoming ninth congress, the first since the eighth in 2021.
 
The test also came as U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby visited South Korea to discuss security issues, including Seoul’s push to build nuclear-powered submarines. Following the three-day trip to Seoul, he left for Japan the previous day.
 
Foreign Ministry officials from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan agreed that North Korea’s ballistic missile launches violate UN Security Council resolutions and threaten international peace and security, and vowed to continue close cooperation among the three allies during a telephone consultation on Tuesday, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.

BY LIM JEONG-WON, Yonhap [[email protected]]