nuclear-news

North Korea on Nov. 16, 2018  claimed it tested a new “ultramodern” weapon, ending a voluntary freeze on major weapons testing that began in April 2018.

State-run Korean Central News Agency said Kim visited the Academy of Defense Science, a center of weapons-development in North Korea, and “supervised a newly-developed ultramodern tactical weapon test.”

Pak Jong Chon, who apparently is head of the Korean People’s Army Artillery Command,  reportedly attended  the test alongside North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, hinting that the weapon in the test was a non-nuclear artillery system, perhaps firing rockets. …….

Much of Pyongyang’s artillery is in range of the Seoul Greater Metropolitan Area, which begins just 25 miles south of the DMZ. Some 10 million people live in the Greater Seoul Metropolitan Area and another 15 million reside just outside of the metropolitan area. South Korea has prepared underground shelters for Seoul’s entire population.

“Though the expanding range of North Korea’s ballistic missiles is concerning, a serious, credible threat to 25 million [Republic of Korea] citizens and approximately 150,000 U.S. citizens living in the [Greater Seoul Metropolitan Area] is also posed from its long-range artillery.” U.S. Army general Vincent Brooks, head of U.S. Forces Korea, told a U.S. Senate committee in March 2018. …….. https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/forget-about-nuclear-weapons-north-korea%E2%80%99s-artillery-could-kill-thousands-46077