NORTH KOREA’s desire to play with the big boys seems to be edging closer to reality after fresh claims it has acquired new weaponry.
The country’s leader Kim Jong-un announced today his navy fired its first anti-ship missile that is capable of destroying a target 120km away, hailing it as “another fresh milestone” in North Korea’s bid to bolster its naval force.
According to the state-run KCNA news agency, the bizarre leader watched the tests before delivering his verdict.
He “noted with great pleasure that it marked another fresh milestone in bolstering up the Juche (self-reliance)-based naval force”, it said.
“Ultra-modern strike means of Korean style have been studied and developed one after another recently to completely contain the hostile forces,” Kim was quoted as saying.
South Korea’s defence ministry said the North had tested three short-range missiles with a range of nearly 100km on Sunday off its east coast.
“North Korea appears to be developing new missiles that would replace its old Soviet-designed anti-ship missiles,” ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok told reporters.
The test was the latest since Pyongyang claimed on May 9 it had successfully test-fired an SLBM, a technology that could eventually offer the nuclear-armed state a survivable second-strike capability.
A fully developed SLBM capability would take the North Korean nuclear threat to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula.
But some experts have questioned the authenticity of the May test, saying photos of the launch might have been digitally manipulated.
A South Korean soldier walks along barricades on the road leading to North Korea at a military checkpoint in the border city of Paju. Picture: Jung Yeon-Je Source: AFP
Today’s revelation comes after a North Korean soldier defected to the South, a rarity according to South Korean officials.
The soldier, who is in his late teens, surrendered himself to South Korean border guards after walking across the frontier in Hwacheon, northeast of Seoul, the South’s defence ministry said.
“We’ve confirmed his will to defect after he reached our guard post,” a ministry spokesman said.
Credit to news.com.au
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