North Korea launches missiles from train, escalates military escalation with South

North Korea on Thursday announced the launch of ballistic missiles from a train for the first time, as part of their plans to bolster their “war deterrence,” a day after the two Koreas tested missiles hours apart in a duel of military might.

The launches highlighted the return of tensions on the Korean Peninsula amid a prolonged stagnation US-led talks to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

The North Korean Central News Agency reported that Wednesday’s launches were part of an exercise in a “Regiment of missiles transported by rail” who, he said, carried the weapons system along the railroad tracks in the mountainous region in the center of the country and hit with precision a maritime target 800 kilometers away.

State media showed what appeared to be two different missiles coming out of launchers in wagons amid orange flames on railroad tracks surrounded by trees.

The armies of South Korea and Japan have confirmed that two short-range ballistic missiles pulled by North Korea, they traveled 800 kilometers before landing at sea, in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, outside its territorial waters. The last time a North Korean missile landed in this area was in October 2019.

Escalation

The train trial would be the last the Pyongyang regime has scheduled for this year. But testing will continue later on either side of one of the hottest borders on the planet.

Seoul has announced that it will launch a solid-fuel rocket in 2024, developments joining others revealed this week and showing an escalation of weapons in the peninsula.

Although North Korean propaganda did not specify the type of missile fired from the trains, with this new launch system, North Korea seems to want to increase the number of moving parts capable of deploying and firing missiles from different geographical points.

The launch was chaired by General Pak Jong-chon, a member of the presidium of the one-party political bureau, who was already present during another test carried out last weekend, when Pyongyang tested a new model of the missile from long range cruising.

These tests also come two weeks after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned that Pyongyang had been reactivated this year. nuclear fuel installations which can be used for pumps.

In an unusual move, South Korea responded to the last two Nordic weapons tests by launching an underwater ballistic missile (SLBM) and announcing the development of a new supersonic cruise missile anti-ship, an air-to-ground missile for its new fighters and a new “more powerful” ballistic missile.

Although he did not elaborate on the details of this latest projectile, Defense sources disclosed to media a few days ago that the missile is in its final stage of development (Seoul showed footage of a test launch) and that it will be able to withstand a payload of around three tonnes and travel more than 400 kilometers.

With this scope and greater destructive potential, Seoul would have the capacity to destroy tunnels and underground facilities. anywhere in North Korea.

To all these announcements was added the plan to launch for the first time a solid fuel space rocket in 2024, which will allow South Korea to be more efficient when putting into low earth orbit. satellites that enhance your military intelligence.

These South Korean muscle samples seem intended on the one hand to emphasize greater autonomy vis-à-vis the United States defense and also to send a message of strength from the ruling Democratic Party (PD) to the South Korean electorate, who will have to choose new president in six months.

The sister of the North Korean leader, Kim Yo-jong, criticized the tests on Tuesday evening and called the South Korean president “stupid”, Moon Jae-in, for calling the latest Nordic tests a “provocation”.

Kim warned that inter-Korean relations could be “at a standstill” if the current arms escalation continues.

This escalation of tension on the peninsula comes as the dialogue on denuclearization has stalled since the failure of the Hanoi summit in 2019 and after Pyongyang cut communications with Seoul to protest the joint military exercises between the South Korea and the United States in August.

Agencies

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