North Korea test-fires rocket launcher with new ‘guiding system’

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un oversaw the test-firing of a 240mm multiple rocket launcher equipped with a new “guiding system,” state media said Wednesday, as Pyongyang continues to upgrade its arsenal.

The announcement comes about three months after North Korea said it would equip its military with a “new” 240mm multiple rocket launcher known to be capable of striking Seoul.

The isolated, nuclear-armed country has recently bolstered military ties with Moscow, and analysts have said the North could be testing and ramping up production of artillery and cruise missiles before sending them to Russia for use in Ukraine.

The United States and Seoul have accused North Korea of supplying ammunition and missiles for Russia’s war effort, a claim Pyongyang has called “absurd.”

The multiple rocket launcher, “technically updated in its maneuverability and concentrated firing capability, was proved to be advantageous in all indices,” Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday.

Updates included “newly applied guiding system, controllability and destructive power,” it said.

At the test-firing, Kim also “set forth an important policy to be pursued in producing new artillery pieces and equipping army units with them,” it added without providing details.

The Wednesday report came just two days after the North unveiled a “suicide drone” designed to be deliberately crashed into enemy targets, effectively acting as guided missiles.

The North said in February it had developed a new control system for a multiple rocket launcher that would lead to a “qualitative change” in its defense capabilities.

In May, it said the updated launcher would be “deployed to units of the Korean People’s Army as replacement equipment from 2024 to 2026.”