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Kim Jong-un reviews North Korea’s expanding artillery capabilities (Img:X)
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un has called for the country’s artillery forces to develop the “most concentrated and destructive” capabilities during his visits to major munitions factories, state media reported on Saturday.
Kim inspected several munitions enterprises from Wednesday to Friday, accompanied by senior officials including Pak Jong-chon, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), as reported by Yonhap.
“Our artillery should have the most concentrated and destructive, massive and versatile offensive capability and responsibly perform the two missions of deterring and fighting war,” the KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
Kim said the munitions industry should take on a greater role in implementing the ruling Workers' Party’s strategic policy of building the “most powerful army”, according to KCNA.
He outlined several priorities, including raising the artificial intelligence capabilities of offensive and defensive weapons, upgrading the armour and automation of artillery systems and improving production conditions.
Kim appears to have visited facilities producing 600-millimetre and 240 mm multiple rocket launchers, as well as drones, according to Shin Jong-woo, secretary-general of the Seoul-based Korea Defence and Security Forum.
The developments follow a North Korean firepower strike drill on September 14 involving artillery and missile units. The exercise came after a trilateral military drill conducted by South Korea, the United States and Japan.
The latest report also came after South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff detected multiple short-range ballistic missiles launched from North Korea’s Wonsan area towards the East Sea on Saturday.
The North Korean drill involved subunits selected from five artillery and missile joint units. It featured new combat systems, including various attack drones, tactical cruise missiles, large-calibre thermal-pressure multiple rocket launchers and tactical ballistic missiles.
North Korea claimed that all the strike weapon systems hit their targets with 100 per cent accuracy, describing the exercise as demonstrating the “unity and simultaneity of firepower attack.”
