North Korean artillery deployed along border not seen as new weapon system
What appears to be North Korean self-propelled artillery has been spotted near the inter-Korean border, the first time that Pyongyang has deployed a heavy weapons system directly along the margin.
North Korean soldiers inspect a self-propelled artillery gun near the border in Kaepung County, Hwanghae, North Korea, as seen from an observatory in Gimpo, Gyeonggi, on Oct. 27.
YONHAP
North Korean artillery deployed along the western front line appears to be legacy weaponry rather than a new system that Pyongyang recently threatened to forward-deploy, a South Korean military official said on Tuesday.
What appears to be North Korean self-propelled artillery has been spotted farther south than its usual positions along the western front near the inter-Korean border, close enough to be captured by South Korean media cameras.
Photos taken by Yonhap News Agency from an observation deck at a park in Gimpo, Gyeonggi, showed what experts say appears to be a 122-millimeter self-propelled howitzer deployed in a coastal border area of Kaepung County, Hwanghae.
“Our understanding is that North Korea has deployed legacy artillery along coastal areas in plain view,” the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson, Capt. Jang Do-young, said in a press briefing when asked for comment on the development.
“While North Korea has mentioned new weapons systems in its recent statements, we believe that this cannot be considered as such,” he said.
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has threatened to deploy “new tactical weapons” along the heavily fortified border and restart anti-South propaganda broadcasts in response to South Korean warning broadcasts and warning shots.
The South Korean military has repeatedly issued warnings over Pyongyang’s border fortification activities, which Seoul sees as having extended far south to breach the military demarcation line separating the two Koreas.
Revealed in the photos was a North Korean propaganda slogan painted on the armored vehicle that read “Annihilate the U.S. imperialist aggressors, the sworn enemies of the Korean people!”
Several North Korean soldiers were seen raising red flags nearby in what appeared to be a military drill.
North Korean troops have been spotted building tactical roads and fences in recent months as part of ongoing border reinforcement efforts driven by leader Kim’s push to formalize inter-Korean relations as “two hostile states.”
However, this marks the first time that North Korea has deployed a heavy weapons system directly along the border, a move that observers view as highly unusual.
Yonhap
