NORTH KOREA’S KIM ORDERS BOOST IN ROCKET LAUNCHER PRODUCTION AHEAD OF KEY PARTY CONGRESS
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Nicolas Adekeye / 1 month
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a factory producing multiple rocket launchers and ordered a significant increase in output, state media reported Tuesday. He declared the weapons system would be a mainstay of the country’s modernized long-range artillery. State media photographs showed Kim touring the facility where huge rocket launch vehicles, loaded with what appeared to be multiple launch rockets, were lined up. “It is necessary to further perfect the enterprise’s production structure…to secure strong production capacity and thus fully guarantee the successful attainment of the munitions production goals, to be set forth at the Ninth Congress of the WPK,” state media KCNA cited Kim as saying. This visit is part of a series of recent activities by Kim to showcase nuclear-capable weapons, including inspections of other arms factories and a nuclear-powered submarine, alongside overseeing missile tests. These moves come ahead of the upcoming Ninth Party Congress of the Workers’ Party, convened to set out major policy goals. While North Korea has not announced the exact timing, experts expect the congress to happen as early as January. Analysts suggest Kim’s displays of military hardware, including an upgraded version of cruise missiles and artillery rockets, indicate he will announce a push for more nuclear weapons and new weapons systems at the party congress. “The North Korean leader’s latest activities to show off the country’s nuclear-capable weapons…suggest he will announce a push to make more nuclear weapons and new weapons systems at the party congress,” analysts say. Regarding the timing, some experts connect the military moves to potential diplomacy. “Next year, doors are open for North Korea to negotiate with the U.S. so all these military moves by Kim are also connected to him trying to raise his negotiating leverage, by showing weapons linked to nuclear (arms),” said Park Won-gon, a North Korea expert at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.