The DPRK will deploy artillery systems that will cover both Seoul and the most populous province of Kyeonggi. At the same time, Kim Jong-un oversees the tests of the regime’s largest military ship.
North Korea (DPRK) announced on Friday that it will deploy new artillery systems on its southern border this year that are capable of hitting the South Korean capital area. It is also set to commission its first destroyer in the coming weeks. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AP agency.
- North Korea will deploy new artillery systems on the border.
- The new howitzers can hit both Seoul and Kyeonggi province.
- Kim Jong Un inspected the production of a new type of howitzer.
- The DPRK will commission its first destroyer in June.
According to state media, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the armory this week to see the production of a new type of self-propelled howitzer with a caliber of 155 millimeters. It has a range of more than 60 kilometers, and this year these systems will be deployed in a long-range artillery unit on the border with South Korea, KCNA reported.
About 50 to 60 kilometers from the border lies the center of the South Korean metropolis Seoul. A large part of the surrounding Kyeonggi province, where key industrial zones are located, would also be within range of the new howitzer. Kyeonggi is also the most populous province in South Korea.
The ship will be handed over to the Navy
On Thursday, Kim – along with his daughter Kim Choo-e – boarded the destroyer Che Hyong to check its maneuverability, according to KCNA. He also ordered the authorities to hand over the 5,000-ton ship to the Navy in mid-June as scheduled.
Unveiled last year, this destroyer is the DPRK’s largest and most modern warship. Later, Pyongyang also unveiled a second vessel of the same class, but it was damaged while being launched at the shipyard.
Although North Korea has already deployed a number of artillery pieces near its border with South Korea, they do not attract as much foreign attention as its ballistic missile program, which it launches despite being banned by UN Security Council resolutions. Only an armistice has been in place between the two Koreas since 1953, so the war between them has not officially ended.
