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North Korea’s Kim bolstering nuclear and conventional weapons

publish time

19/09/2024

publish time

19/09/2024

KNS801
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, oversees a launch of, what it says, the country’s newly built Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5 ballistic missile at an undisclosed place in North Korea on Sept 18. (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea, Sept 19, (AP): North Korea said Thursday that leader Kim Jong Un supervised successful tests of two types of missiles - one designed to carry a "super-large conventional warhead” and the other likely for a nuclear warhead, as he ordered officials to bolster up his country’s military capabilities to repel United States-led threats.

The tests appear to be the same as the multiple missile launches that neighboring countries said North Korea performed Wednesday, extending its run of weapons displays as confrontations with the U.S. and South Korea escalate. The official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim oversaw the launch of the country’s newly built Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5 ballistic missile tipped with a dummy "4.5-ton super-large conventional warhead.”

It said the test-firing was meant to verify an ability to accurately hit a 320 kilometer (200 mile) -range target, suggesting it’s a weapon aimed at striking sites in South Korea. KCNA said Kim also guided the launch of an improved "strategic” cruise missile, a word implying the weapon was developed to carry a nuclear warhead.

After the tests, Kim stressed the need to continue to "bolster up the nuclear force” and acquire "overwhelming offensive capability in the field of conventional weapons, too,” according to KCNA. It cited the Kim as saying that North Korea can thwart its enemies’ intentions to invade only when it has strong military power. KCNA released photos of a missile hitting a ground target.

South Korea’s military said later Thursday it assessed that both ballistic and cruise missiles fired by North Korea the previous day landed in the North’s mountainous northeastern region. North Korea typically test-launches missiles off its east coast, and it’s highly unusual for the country to fire missiles at land targets likely because of concerns about potential damages on the ground if the weapons land in unintended areas.

Jung Chang Wook, head of the Korea Defense Study Forum think tank in Seoul, said North Korea likely aims to show it’s confident about the the accuracy of its new ballistic missile. Jung said the missile's high-powered warhead is meant to attack ground targets, but North Korea hasn’t acquired weapons that can penetrate deep into the earth and destroy underground structures.