North Korea carries out Super-Large Multiple Rocket Launcher Test

The Korean Central News Agency which is the official broadcaster of North Korea has reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw the test-firing of a “super-large multiple rocket launcher”.

Super-Large Multiple Rocket Launcher

• The “super-large multiple rocket launcher” was first tested in an exercise observed by Kim Jong about two weeks ago.
• The present test was aimed at measuring the time of combat deployment.
• The rockets were launched from the Kaechon area in South Pyongang province. They flew approximately 330 kilometres toward the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.
• Reports suggest that another test could follow to access running fire test which is most vivid character in terms of the power of multiple rocket launcher.

Diplomatic Significance

The launches happened just hours after it signalled a new willingness to resume stalled denuclearisation talks with the United States. The North Korean diplomat was quoted as saying that his country was willing to sit with the US side for comprehensive discussions of the issues we have so far taken up” later this month, at a time and place to be determined. The tests are seen as a pressure tactic of the North Korea to gain a favourable deal in the negogiations.

Denuclearization of the Korean peninsula

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump adopted a vaguely-worded statement on the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula” at their first summit in Singapore on June 2018. But little progress was made since then on dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.

Both Trump and Kim had agreed to restart working-level talks during a meeting at the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Korean peninsula in June 2019. but those talks have yet to begin.