Analysts Say North Korea’s Newly Tested Weapons Are Designed to Threaten Seoul Directly
Military analysts believe the latest weapons systems unveiled by North Korea are specifically designed to place the entire Seoul metropolitan area within range of rapid precision strikes.
The assessment comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally supervised a series of missile and artillery tests on the anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War.
According to experts from Kyungnam University, the upgraded 240mm multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) — which Pyongyang claims now has a range of up to 90 kilometers — appears to have been developed to enable frontline units near the border to strike targets across greater Seoul without relocating launch positions.
Analysts argue that the expanded range and improved guidance systems reflect North Korea’s broader military doctrine of maintaining immediate strike capabilities against South Korea’s political, economic and military centers.
The development is also seen as reinforcing Pyongyang’s increasingly hardline policy of defining inter-Korean relations as those of “two hostile states,” while further strengthening combat readiness among forward-deployed units along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
