North Korea said it has test-fired upgraded 240-millimeter multiple rocket launcher rounds equipped with precision guidance and an extended range of up to 115 kilometers. The move puts Pyongyang out of step with President Lee Jae-myung, who has been calling for a resumption of U.S.-North Korea talks and peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula while the North continues to modernize firepower aimed at the South.
The Korean Central News Agency reported on Sept. 24 that the North's defense science sector conducted a test firing of "upgraded 240-millimeter guided rocket rounds" on Sept. 22 as part of a plan to modernize artillery and missile forces under its five-year defense development goals.
North Korea said the upgraded rounds use an autonomous precision guidance system. It claimed the rounds have a range of 100 kilometers in ballistic flight mode and up to 115 kilometers in a combined glide flight mode. The news agency said the test verified the rounds' accuracy and superiority.
The North also stressed that the upgrade strengthens its ability to direct firepower at the South. Officials who attended the test agreed that the development of the extended-range guided rocket rounds would bring a major change in firepower readiness along the southern border, the news agency said.
Pak Jong-chon, vice chairman of the Workers' Party Central Military Commission, said the most lethal and destructive strike capabilities should be concentrated along the southern border. "We must make the enemy realize within the shortest possible period that all of our long-range strike means have been renewed," he said.
The test firing was overseen by Ko Pyong-hyon, chairman of the Second Economic Committee, and observed by Pak, Kim Jong-sik, first vice department director of the Party Central Committee, Jang Chang-ha, head of the Missile Administration, and Yu Chang-son, chief of the artillery bureau of the Korean People's Army General Staff. The test was reportedly not reported by the Rodong Sinmun or central broadcasting outlets that ordinary North Koreans see.
The 240-millimeter multiple rocket launcher is one of the North's main long-range artillery systems, deployed forward near the Military Demarcation Line. Existing models are believed to have a range of about 60 kilometers, but the North claims the upgraded version reaches up to 115 kilometers. If that claim holds, the weapon would put not only Seoul but also U.S. military bases in Osan and Pyeongtaek within striking distance.
The test came as Lee visited New York for the United Nations General Assembly and called for a resumption of U.S.-North Korea talks and a phased approach to the North's nuclear program. In an interview with The New York Times published on the 21st, Lee said that pursuing denuclearization as a goal under current conditions would achieve nothing, and that trading sanctions with little practical effect for a halt to further development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile technology would carry considerable value.
In his keynote address to the General Assembly the next day, Lee laid out a phased approach toward peaceful coexistence on the peninsula. "First, we can halt the advancement of the North's nuclear and missile capabilities, then reduce them over the medium term, and move toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula over the long term," he said.
South Korean military authorities had already been aware of the test firing. The military routinely discloses launches of the North's 600-millimeter rocket artillery, which is generally classified as a short-range ballistic missile, but does not separately announce 240-millimeter launches.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected several rocket artillery rounds fired from the South Pyongan Province area toward the West Sea on the 22nd, adding that detailed specifications were under close analysis. "Our military is closely monitoring various North Korean activities under a solid South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture," it said, "and maintains the capability and posture to respond overwhelmingly to any provocation."
