🇧🇩 Monitoring North Korea's Missile and Nuclear Programs (1 Viewer)

[Saif]

N Korea confirms missile launch, vows bolstered nuclear force
Agence France-Presse . Seoul, South Korea 18 May, 2024, 15:45

This picture taken on May 17, 2024 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on May 18, 2024 shows a test fire of a tactical ballistic missile into which a new autonomous navigation system is introduced in the East Sea of Korea, at an undisclosed location in North Korea. | AFP photo.

North Korea has test-fired a tactical ballistic missile equipped with a 'new autonomous navigation system', state media said on Saturday, with leader Kim Jong Un vowing to boost the country's nuclear force.

Kim oversaw the Friday test-launch into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, on a mission to evaluate the 'accuracy and reliability of the autonomous navigation system', Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said.

The launch was the latest in a string of ever more sophisticated tests by North Korea, which has fired off cruise missiles, tactical rockets and hypersonic weapons in recent months, in what the nuclear-armed, UN-sanctioned country says is a drive to upgrade its defences.

The Friday launch came hours after leader Kim's powerful sister Kim Yo Jong denied allegations by Seoul and Washington that Pyongyang is shipping weapons to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

Seoul's military on Friday described the test as 'several flying objects presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles' from North Korea's eastern Wonsan area into waters off its coast.

The suspected missiles travelled around 300 kilometres (186 miles) before splashing down in waters between South Korea and Japan, the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said.

'The accuracy and reliability of the autonomous navigation system were verified through the test fire,' Pyongyang's KCNA said Saturday, adding leader Kim expressed 'great satisfaction' over the launch.

In a separate report released on Saturday, KCNA said Kim visited a military production facility the previous day and urged for 'more rapidly bolstering the nuclear force' of the nation 'without halt and hesitation'.

During the visit, he said the 'enemies would be afraid of and dare not to play with fire only when they witness the nuclear combat posture of our state', according to KCNA.

Pyongyang's nuclear force 'will meet a very important change and occupy a remarkably raised strategic position' when its munitions production plan, aimed to be completed by 2025, is carried out, it added.

Seoul and Washington have accused North Korea of sending arms to Russia, which would violate rafts of United Nations sanctions on both countries, with experts saying the recent spate of testing may be of weapons destined for use on battlefields in Ukraine.

North Korea is barred by UN sanctions from any tests using ballistic technology, but its key ally Moscow used its UN Security Council veto in March to effectively end UN monitoring of violations, for which Pyongyang has specifically thanked Russia.

But leader Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong said Friday that Pyongyang had 'no intention to export our military technical capabilities to any country', adding that the North's priority was 'to make the war readiness and war deterrent of our army more perfect in quality and quantity'.

She accused Seoul and Washington of 'misleading the public opinion' with their allegations that Pyongyang was transferring arms to Russia.

The Friday launches come as Russian leader Vladimir Putin was in China on Friday, the final day of a visit aiming to promote crucial trade with Beijing -- North Korea's most important ally -- and win greater support for his war effort in Ukraine.

North Korea's latest weapons tests were likely intended to attract the attention of Putin while he was in China, said Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies.

The North would benefit greatly from an expected visit by Putin to Pyongyang, and 'they want their country to be used as a military logistics base during Russia's ongoing war (in Ukraine)', he told AFP.

Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said: 'China and Russia's irresponsible handling of North Korea, riding on the new Cold War dynamics, is further encouraging Pyongyang's nuclear armament.'

Inter-Korean relations are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang declaring Seoul its 'principal enemy'.

It has jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and threatened war over 'even 0.001 mm' of territorial infringement.​

 

[Saif]

N Korea fires 2 short-range ballistic missiles, one fails

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles but one launch failed, South Korea’s military said on Monday, a day after Pyongyang warned of...

www.newagebd.net

N Korea fires 2 short-range ballistic missiles, one fails
Aence France-Presse . Seoul 02 July, 2024, 00:52

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles but one launch failed, South Korea's military said on Monday, a day after Pyongyang warned of 'fatal consequences' following major joint exercises in the South.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the military had detected two launches, the first at 5:05am (2005 GMT) and the second around 10 minutes later.

'The short-range ballistic missile launched at around 05:05 flew approximately 600 km,' it said, adding the second one travelled 120 km.

JCS spokesperson Lee Sung-jun said the second missile appeared to fly abnormally in an early stage of flight, adding that if it had exploded in mid-air, its trajectory indicates debris could have landed over North Korea.

Seoul's military has 'strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for further launches', JCS said in a statement.

North Korea is accused of breaching arms control measures by supplying weapons to Russia to use in its war in Ukraine, and Russian president Vladimir Putin held a summit with leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang in June in a show of unity.

The JCS's Lee declined to comment when asked whether the North's latest launch could have been a test of missiles intended for delivery to Russia.

The launch also comes after Pyongyang on Sunday denounced joint military exercises by South Korea, Japan and the United States, calling them an 'Asian version of NATO' and warning of 'fatal consequences'.

The three-day 'Freedom Edge' drills, which ran from Thursday to Saturday last week, included preparation in ballistic missile and air defences, anti-submarine warfare and defensive cyber training.

They also involved Washington's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, Tokyo's guided-missile destroyer JS Atago and Seoul's KF-16 fighter jet.

Pyongyang has always decried similar combined exercises as rehearsals for an invasion, but Seoul defended the latest exercises, saying they were a continuation of defensive drills held regularly for years.

Last week, North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a multiple warhead missile, but the South said that launch ended in a mid-air explosion.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North ramping up weapons testing while bombarding the South with balloons full of trash.

Pyongyang says those missives are in retaliation for balloons loaded with anti-regime propaganda leaflets sent northwards by activists in the South.

In response to the North's repeated launches, South Korea has fully suspended a tension-reducing military treaty. It also briefly resumed propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts, and conducted live-fire drills near the border.

North Korea is also currently holding a major party meeting, which was opened by leader Kim, state media said Saturday.

'In both North Korean politics and military policy, the best defence is often a good offence,' said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

'These missile launches are likely the Kim regime's way of compensating for recent failed tests, aiming to impress a domestic audience during ruling party meetings.'

'Pyongyang is also determined not to appear weak while South Korea conducts defence exercises with Japan and the United States.'​

 

[Saif]

North Korea says tested missile capable of carrying super-large warhead

North Korea successfully tested a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a super-large warhead, state media said on Tuesday, with analysts suggesting the weapon could be nuclear-capable...

www.newagebd.net

North Korea says tested missile capable of carrying super-large warhead
Agence France-Presse . Seoul 02 July, 2024, 23:45

North Korea successfully tested a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a super-large warhead, state media said on Tuesday, with analysts suggesting the weapon could be nuclear-capable.

Pyongyang's state media claimed it had successfully launched the Hwasongpho-11Da-4.5 missile, which it said was capable of carrying a 4.5 ton-class super-large warhead.

'The test-fire was conducted with a missile tipped with a simulated heavy warhead to verify flight stability and hit accuracy at the maximum range of 500 kilometres and the minimum range of 90 kilometres,' the North's Korean Central News Agency said.

It added that it would test fire the missile again this month 'to verify flight characteristics, hit accuracy and explosion power of super-large warhead at the medium range of 250 kilometres'.

But Seoul's military said Pyongyang's claims of a successful test were likely a 'lie', pointing to the fact that one of the missiles appeared to have failed in the early stages of flight.

That missile's trajectory suggested a possible mid-air explosion over North Korea, the military has said, which could have led to debris falling on the country.

'It is extremely rare for test launches to be conducted inland, and the claim that they succeeded in such a launch is likely to be false,' Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung-jun told reporters Tuesday.

A super-large warhead, along with a spy military satellite and solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, was among the advanced weapons that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to develop at a party congress in 2021.

In the KCNA report, the weapon was 'described as a 'super-large warhead', deliberately omitting the word 'nuclear'', Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.

'But since it is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, it can be considered a nuclear weapon,' he said.

The Monday test launches took place after Kim's regime denounced the latest joint military exercises by Seoul, Tokyo and Washington as an 'Asian version of NATO' and warned of 'fatal consequences'.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North ramping up weapons testing while bombarding the South with balloons full of trash.

Pyongyang says those missiles are in retaliation for balloons loaded with anti-regime propaganda leaflets sent northwards by activists in the South.

In response to the North's repeated launches, South Korea has fully suspended a tension-reducing military treaty. It also briefly resumed propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts.

On Tuesday, South Korea's military said it had resumed live-fire exercises at artillery ranges near the border with the North.

At front-line ranges within five kilometres of the Military Demarcation Line that runs through the middle of the DMZ separating the two Koreas, South Korean troops fired around 140 rounds using the K9 and K105A1 self-propelled howitzers, it added.

Last week, South Korea's Marine Corps also resumed live-fire exercises on islands near the western inter-Korean border, the first such exercises since the 2018 tension-reducing military deal with the North was fully suspended in June.

South Korea has also grown anxious over the North's warming relations with its isolated neighbour Russia.

North Korea is accused of breaching arms control measures by supplying weapons to Russia to use in its war in Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a summit with Kim in Pyongyang last month in a show of unity.​

 

[Lulldapull]

The DPRK is directly aided by China, just like Pakistan is too. Otherwise these two outfits won't survive, not in the modern world. In Pakistan's case there is some cooperation between the US and China in ensuring Pakistan's survival, to keep India and to a much lesser extent, Iran in check, and keep the door of intervention in Afghanistan and potential encroachment into shitty aas bankrupt central haitia and Xinjiang open.

Any other narrative is just fraudulent musings, not worth the time of da day.

 

[Saif]

The DPRK is directly aided by China, just like Pakistan is too. Otherwise these two outfits won't survive, not in the modern world. In Pakistan's case there is some cooperation between the US and China in ensuring Pakistan's survival, to keep India and to a much lesser extent, Iran in check, and keep the door of intervention in Afghanistan and potential encroachment into shitty aas bankrupt central haitia and Xinjinag open.

Any other narrative is just lower caste musings, not worth the time of da day.

I hear that Pakistan's missiles are based on North Korean technology. Is this true?

 

[Lulldapull]

I hear that Pakistan's missiles are based on North Korean technology. Is this true?

It’s whatever China gives us bro, with an understanding that the US approves these technology transfers. Pakistani existence today is in Chinese hands with US blessings.