Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
North Korea fires off pair of missiles
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said today that the latest test-firing of its “super-large” multiple rocket launcher was a final review of the weapon’s combat application, a suggestion that the country is preparing to deploy the new weapon system soon.
South Korea’s military earlier said North Korea fired two projectiles, likely from the same “super-large” rocket launcher, on Thursday. It expressed “strong regret” over the launches and urged North Korea to stop escalating tensions.
Today, the North’s Korean Central News Agency confirmed the launches were made with the presence of leader Kim Jong Un and other top officials.
“The volley test-fire aimed to finally examine the combat application of the super-large multiple launch rocket system proved the military and technical superiority of the weapon system and its firm reliability,” the news agency said.
It said Kim expressed “great satisfaction” over the results of the test-firing.
Analyst Kim Dong-yub at Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies said North Korea appears to be entering the stage of mass-producing and deploying the rocket launcher. He wrote on Facebook that the weapons system may already have been deployed.
Thursday’s firing was the fourth test of the rocket launcher since August.
Some experts say the flight distance and trajectory of projectiles fired from the launcher show they are virtually missiles or missile-classed weapons. The projectiles fired Thursday flew about 235 miles at a maximum altitude of 60 miles, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Our military expresses its strong regret over [the launches] and urges [North Korea] to immediately stop acts that escalate military tensions,” Jeon said in a briefing. He said the military is monitoring possible additional launches by North Korea.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the launches as a “serious challenge” to Japan and the international community, even though the projectiles did not land inside Japanese territorial waters.
He said his government will “do its utmost” to protect the lives and assets of Japanese people.
The reported launches were the 13th major public weapons test by North Korea this year.
Abe called the projectiles “ballistic missiles.” Some experts have said that projectiles fired from the “superlarge” multiple rocket launcher are virtually missiles or missile-class weapons.
On Monday, North Korea said leader Kim visited a front-line islet and ordered artillery troops there to practice firing near the sea boundary, the scene of several bloody naval clashes between the Koreas in past years. South Korea protested the drills, saying they violated an agreement last year aimed at lowering military animosity.
Seoul’s Defense Ministry said the artillery firing occurred on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the North Korean shelling of a South Korean border island that killed four South Koreans in 2010.
With nuclear diplomacy with the United States largely deadlocked, North Korea has test-fired a series of newly developed weapons to pressure the U.S. while using the standstill in negotiations to upgrade its military capabilities. In early October, it conducted its first underwater launch of a ballistic missile in three years.
Attention is now focused on whether North Korea will resume long-range missile and nuclear tests which have been suspended since it conducted the third of three intercontinental ballistic missile tests in November 2017. President Donald Trump has called the suspension of those tests a major achievement of his North Korea policy.
Some experts say North Korea may restart those major weapons tests if the United States fails to meet the deadline. But others say North Korea is likely to begin with less serious provocations while attempting to improve cooperation with China and Russia, because intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear tests would completely derail diplomacy with the United States.
North Korea says it wants the U.S. to lift international sanctions imposed on it and provide security guarantees before abandoning its advancing nuclear arsenal. But U.S. officials have said the sanctions on the North will remain in place until North Korea takes substantial steps toward denuclearization.
The nuclear negotiations broke down in February when Trump rejected Kim’s demands for major sanctions relief in return for partial disarmament steps during their second summit in Vietnam. They held a third, impromptu meeting in late June at the Korean border village of Panmunjom.