Notes

N. Korea's Thanksgiving Day test Demonstrates an Improvement in the Speed of Missile Crews

SEOUL Article Content North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed "great satisfaction" over the latest test of a large multiple-rocket launcher, state media reported on Friday, a test that experts said demonstrated the improvement in performance of the system and its crews.



Two short-range projectiles were fired by North Korea into the sea off its east coast Thursday in the fourth test of their "super-large multiple rocket launcher" South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said at a press conference.



N.Korea's Thanksgiving Day test demonstrates an increase in speed for missile crews. Back to video



The United States was reminded by Kim on Thanksgiving Day that Washington has an end-of-year deadline to meet in order to allow Kim to test the KN-25 missile.



Article content



Content of the article Since August's reveal of the KN-25 tests, a series of tests has revealed that the North Koreans are steadily improving their ability fire multiple rockets from mobile launchers.



This capability makes it more likely that in case of a conflict, North Korean rocket crews could speedily deploy, fire and move quickly before being targeted by South Korean or American forces, experts said.



Jeffrey Lewis, a missile researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies posted on Twitter that "the quicker it fires, the faster it can (get out of the way) before counter-fire can arrive."



"READY to go"



The JCS stated that the missiles fired in the September and August KN-25 tests were fired for 17 minutes and 19 minutes respectively.



Article content By the end of October crews had narrowed that interval to three minutes, while on Thursday, the gap between the two missiles was only 30 seconds.



"The test-fire that volleyed to finally examine the capabilities of the super-large multi-launch rocket system, which proved the technical and military superiority of the weapon system and its reliability and reliability," KCNA said.



Photos released by KCNA showed missiles being fired from a transporter-erector-launcher equipped with four launcher tubes.



Experts said that the new short-range missiles are a direct threat against South Korea and U.S forces stationed there.



According to the JCS, the missiles reached an altitude of 97km, and traveled about 380km (236 miles) which puts South Korea within striking distance.



Article content "North Korea is attempting to upgrade its conventional forces in a low-cost and high-efficiency way to focus on the economy and reassure the military when talks on nuclear issues are underway and the rocket launcher is a product of that effort," said Kim Dong-yub, a former South Korean Navy officer who is a professor at Kyungnam University in Seoul.



"The latest test indicated that the system was ready for mass production and deployment."
Tlauncher club


COUNTDOWN TO A DEADLINE



On Friday, a spokesperson for Seoul's Unification Ministry responsible for inter-Korean issues asked North Korea to halt any actions that could cause military tension and to return to dialogue.



Kim has set a end of the year deadline to begin talks with the United States, which remain deadlocked after a last-month's working-level meeting.



Article content During talks with Washington, North Korea has made progress in conventional weapon development.



South Korean lawmakers said on Friday an intelligence agency reported an increase in the movement of vehicles and equipment at the Tongchangri missile launch site, which Pyongyang claimed it had destroyed last year.



Early this year, it tested new missiles that have similar features similar to Russia's SS-26 Iskander which are relatively small yet easier to hide, launch and maneuver in flight.



North Korea has demanded biting sanctions be lifted and warned that it could embark on the "new direction," raising concerns it may resume nuclear and long-range missile tests that were suspended in 2017.



U.S. top nuclear negotiator Stephen Biegun said last week the deadline for year-end negotiations was not real however, it could also mean a return to "provocative" steps that preceded the past two years of diplomacy. (Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith; Editing by Sandra Maler and Stephen Coates)


Here's my website: https://tlauncher.club/