Riyaz ul Khaliq
30 March 2020•Update: 30 March 2020
ANKARA
North Korea on Monday claimed to have test-fired what it called “super-large multiple rocket launchers,” state media reported.
The state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said the tests were carried out “successfully” by the Academy of Defense Science of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Sunday.
However, the state media acknowledged that there were “problems arising in delivering the weapon system to the units of the People's Army”.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s military said the rocket launchers tested by Pyongyang were “similar to its large-caliber multiple launch guided rocket system unveiled last year.”.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Monday the “launch system looks different from the North's existing weapon of the same name,” Yonhap News Agency reported.
“It looks more like the large-caliber multiple launch guided rocket system unveiled in August,” said a spokesman of the JCS, which is a group of top-ranking members of each branch of the country’s armed forces.
The photos released by KCNA showed a projectile being fired from a six-tube rocket-launch system, which is different from North Korea’s existing four-tube system, the report said.
The Seoul-based Yonhap report said North Korea “appears to be almost ready” to operationally deploy its large multiple rocket launcher system.
