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North Korea said on Wednesday it tested a new lightweight multi-purpose missile launch system and a multiple-tactical cruise missile weapon system, with leader Kim Jong Un overseeing the drills, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The tests took place on Tuesday and were previously reported by South Korea’s military, which said North Korea fired several projectiles, including a ballistic missile, off its west coast.
Seoul said the missiles flew about 80 kilometers.
The launches were North Korea’s first in 37 days and its eighth missile-related test this year.
KCNA said the test “analyzed and estimated” the power of a special-mission warhead for a tactical ballistic missile, as well as the reliability of a 240-millimeter controlled artillery rocket with an expanded range and an ultra-precision autonomous navigation system.
Kim said the weapons were evidence of technical progress and a broader upgrade of North Korea’s military capabilities.
The “major weapon systems are a clear signal of upgrading of our military force and an event of showing great technical progress,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
“It is an essential condition for our army’s operations to have such destructive power as enough to make any encountering force impossible to survive theoretically, apart from fortune,” he added.
KCNA said Kim was satisfied with the test results and believed that “important ultra-high defence science and technologies were introduced into the practical weapon tests.”
Photos released by KCNA showed a missile being launched from a mobile platform, with a bright exhaust flame and smoke around the vehicle.
Another photo showed Kim standing next to a mobile launcher with military officials.
South Korea’s military said on Tuesday that North Korea fired several projectiles, including a ballistic missile, into waters off its west coast.
The launches were the latest in a series of North Korean weapons tests this year.
Analysts have said Pyongyang may be trying to use weakening international norms to strengthen its nuclear status through repeated missile tests.
North Korea is under multiple United Nations sanctions banning its nuclear weapons development and the use of ballistic missile technology, but has repeatedly violated those restrictions.
In April, Pyongyang carried out a ballistic missile test to “verify the characteristics and power of a cluster bomb warhead,” according to its state media at the time.
Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said the latest launch indicates Pyongyang intends to deploy such a weapon system in the event of war.
He described the system as “a precision-strike complex that integrates tactical cruise missiles, guided multiple-launch rocket systems, and tactical ballistic missiles.”
“It highlights precise, long-range, automated conventional firepower capable of overwhelming the South even below the nuclear threshold,” Hong said.
Earlier this month, Kim called on top military officials to turn North Korea’s southern border with South Korea into an “impregnable fortress.”
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