Pyongyang says latest missile launches part of coordinated firepower strike drill
North Korean state media said the drill integrated four weapon types in the exercise, while followed combined drills between South Korea, the United States and Japan.
North Korea conducts a joint strike drill involving long-range artillery and missile units on Sept. 12, in this photo carried by the Korean Central News Agency on Sept. 14.YONHAP
North Korea said Monday that the short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) it fired on Saturday were part of a coordinated firepower strike drill involving four types of weapons — drones, strategic cruise missiles, tactical ballistic missiles and multiple rocket launchers.
The exercise appears intended to hone the integrated operation of different missiles and drones while demonstrating firepower capable of countering military cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan.
“A joint firepower attack drill of long-range artillery and missile units of the combined units at all levels of the Korean People's Army took place on [Saturday],” Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Monday.
The exercise was overseen by Pak Jong-chon, who returned as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of North Korea on Aug. 29, and Yu Chang-son, director of the Artillery Bureau of the KPA General Staff.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not attend.
The KCNA said five artillery and "missile joint units" participated in the drill.
“The drill involved new combat systems such as attack drones of various kinds, tactical cruise missile, large-caliber thermal-pressure multiple rocket launcher and tactical ballistic missile,” the KCNA said.
Based on the report, North Korea is believed to have operated a combination of suicide drones, Hwasal-series strategic cruise missiles, Hwasong-11A (KN-23)-series SRBMs and 600-millimeter (23.6-inch) super-large multiple rocket launchers, known as the KN-25.
In particular, what North Korea described as large-caliber thermobaric multiple rocket launchers appears to refer to a multiple rocket launcher system capable of firing thermobaric munitions. Thermobaric weapons disperse fuel into the air before detonating it, generating intense blast pressure and high temperatures. With Russian forces having used thermobaric weapons in the war in Ukraine, it is speculated that North Korea may have drawn on Russia’s operational experience and battlefield lessons.
A news report on North Korea’s ballistic missile launches is broadcast at Seoul Station in central Seoul on Sept. 12.NEWS1
It is also unusual for North Korea to deploy four different types of weapons, including drones, in a single exercise. As the drill came immediately after South Korea, the United States and Japan conducted their multidomain Freedom Edge exercise from Sept. 7 to Friday, the North Korean exercise is believed to be partly a response to trilateral military cooperation.
North Korea, however, described the exercise as intended “to get familiar with the procedure for the operation of the integrated firepower control system, the systematic component of the strategic weapons combined management system, improve the specialty of the integrated automatic firepower control of various combat systems and increase the efficiency of destroying the targets with concentrated fire,” according to the KCNA.
The description emphasized the drill’s focus on improving operational procedures rather than simply demonstrating firepower.
“The drill is aimed at making the army do what it should do,” Pak said in the report.
North Korean leader Kim’s absence from the exercise and North Korea’s decision to disclose it only through the externally oriented KCNA two days after the launches have also been interpreted as signs that Pyongyang sought to keep tensions in check, experts believe.
“North Korea emphasized that this was a technical and practical exercise under the military leadership without the supreme leader in attendance, and it managed the level of tensions by announcing it only through an externally oriented outlet two days after the launches,” said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) previously said South Korean and U.S. military authorities detected several SRBMs launched from the Wonsan area at around 5:20 a.m. Saturday toward Al Island in the northeastern East Sea. The missiles flew about 250 kilometers (155 miles), the JCS said.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
