Kim Jong-un's daughter attended the delivery ceremony of 250 new tactical missile launchers in North Korea
2024-08-05
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Author/ Lin Haidong
On August 4, North Korea held a grand ceremony in Pyongyang to deliver 250 new tactical missile launchers to the newly formed missile force. The North Korean media called it "the absolute weapon departure ceremony that demonstrates the firm victory of the cause of strengthening and modernizing the army"; it is also called "the new tactical ballistic missile weapon system handover commemoration ceremony." Kim Jong-un brought his daughter and a group of party, government and military leaders to the ceremony.The old man attended the ceremony and delivered an important speech. Let's take a look at this matter.one,What is the new tactical missile?North Korea has not announced the specific model of the "new tactical missile", but from the images released by the North Korean media, all 250 launchers are equipped with quadruple launchers; on the display stand beside the rostrum, in addition to a prototype, there is also a missile, which is suspected to be the "Mars Cannon-11D", one of the North Korean versions of the Iskander. I am not familiar with weapons, so I will ultimately follow the opinions of the military leaders.I have counted and checked, there are 249 cars in this picture.
Including this one, there are exactly 250. As for whether these launchers are fully loaded with missiles, I don't know, but one is shown here.Zhao Chunlong, secretary of the Central Committee and Minister of the Munitions Industry, reported to Kim Jong-un that "the special order on the production of military supplies has been successfully completed" and told the people present "passionately" that these new tactical missile systems are "Comrade Kim Jong-un personally conceived and energetically guided the successful completion of, our North Korean-style powerful cutting-edge tactical attack weapon". North Korean media directly called it the "absolute weapon", sharing this name with intercontinental missiles such as the "Mars Cannon-18".Kim Jong-un inspected a military factory in early JanuaryKim Jong-un inspected a military factory in mid-May
The Missile General Administration conducted a test launch of a tactical ballistic missile using a new version of guidance technology in mid-May, which should be the "new tactical missile" mentioned this time. The test launch was suspected to have been carried out on the coast of Wonsan. Kim Jong-un observed the test launch on site and gave high praise to the success of the test launch.This year, this new tactical missile system has frequently appeared before our eyes - in early JanuaryKim Jong-un inspected "some important military factories"Including its production plant; in mid-May,Kim Jong-un inspects "military enterprises affiliated with the Second Economic Committee"At the same time, it also disclosed the completion of the production plan for the first half of the year, the tactical missile systems shipped in the first half of the year were equipped with the firepower attack joint forces of the Western Combat Group, and the requirement to complete the tactical missile production plan issued by the Military Commission before the end of this year. What Zhao Chunlong said about "the successful completion of the special order on military production" may refer to this incident. The production plan for the first half of the year was completed in mid-May and equipped with the Western Front troops, and the annual plan was completed in early August and equipped with the front-line missile troops. This speed is fast enough to demonstrate North Korea's "new era Chollima spirit". As Zhao Chunlong said, this is a "miraculous achievement that shocked the world." This incident shows North Korea's military production capacity to the outside world. If all 250 launchers are fully loaded, then the "closest and most sincere friends" can probably rest assured.two,What did the handover ceremony commemorate?Since it is called a "handover commemoration ceremony", there must be commemorative factors, and there are roughly two:
First, this ceremony is the first time that North Korea has "shown a spectacular deterrent scene since the founding of the country and the army", and it has "great political and military significance". As a result, North Korea's "central weapons and equipment of the armed forces" has added a new "defense asset with great military strategic value" and equipped the front-line troops on the border. North Korean media said that this handover commemoration ceremony "will be recorded in history as a historic event", which shows how much significance this event has for North Korea. The picture above shows Kim Jong-un issuing an order from the Chairman of the Military Commission to the Chief of General Staff Li Yongji and the commanders of the front-line corps to equip the equipment.
Second, a new missile force was formed. Kim Jong-un personally awarded the military flag and military flag certificate at the ceremony. The above picture shows Kim Jong-un awarding the flag and certificate to the commander, political commissar, and chief of staff of the missile force. The military flag shows that the force was established on October 27, 2023, after Kim Jong-un visited Russia in September last year and delivered a policy speech after returning to China. It seems to be one of the major military measures decided by the seventh enlarged meeting of the eighth military commission in August last year. The missile force equipped with 250 tactical missile launchers is only the first stage goal of the construction of the front-line missile force.At present, North Korea has expanded its frontline combat area on the border between North Korea and South Korea, and the frontline combat group has also been reorganized. This time, 250 tactical missile launchers have been deployed to the front line, and a new missile corps has been added, and 1,000 "Mars Cannon-11D" have been added, which can be said to be a heavy investment. It seems that these 250 vehicles should be controlled by this new unit, but I don’t know whether the tactical missile system previously equipped to the Western Front Corps will also be taken over by this unit? The structure of North Korea’s frontline troops is mainly composed of four front-line corps, namely the first, second, fourth, and fifth. At present, each corps itself is equipped with various firepower strike units, and there are also some firepower strike units controlled by the Missile General Administration. The general framework is clear, but the equipment of other troops is a bit messy. I wonder if the missile corps will be integrated after it is newly built? In addition, North Korea’s strategic army still exists, but the strategic missiles and tactical nuclear weapons are under the Missile General Administration, which has nothing to do with the strategic army. The strategic army’s presence is getting weaker and weaker. I don’t know whether this new missile unit belongs to the strategic army or the Missile General Administration? I personally tend to think that it may belong to the Missile General Administration.three,Kim Jong-un's low-key daughterThe DPRK media did not mention the presence of Kim Jong-un's daughter in this report, but it can be seen from the images released by the DPRK media that Kim Jong-un was present.KCNA did not release photos as usualFrom the current photos, Kim Joo-ae did not even appear next to the "Father Marshal", nor did she sit in the first row, and did not even walk to the front row when 250 vehicles were "demonstrating". The rostrum was divided into three rows - in the first row, on Kim Jong-un's left hand side were Cho Chun-ryong, Kim Deok-hoon, and Jang Chang-ha; on the right hand side were Park Jong-cheon, Kang Chun-nam, and Lee Yong-gil; in the second row, on Kim Jong-un's right hand side were the military generals, and on the left hand side was a mixed group of party, government, and military elders, with Choi Sun-hee as the chief, followed by Kim Joo-ae, Kim Yo-jong, and Ko Byung-hyun (Chairman of the Second Economic Committee); while two party elders, Cho Yong-won and Kim Jae-ryong, were seated at the end of the third row on Kim Jong-un's left.The red arrow indicates the sponsor. What is the meaning of having a model building as a backdrop behind the rostrum?Kim Joo-ae stands between Choi Sun-hee and Kim Yo-jongThe yellow arrow points to Kim Joo-ae. The white arrow points to Jo Yong-won and Kim Jae-ryongThe yellow arrow points to the gold ownerSince attending the completion ceremony of the Pyongyang Qianwei Street with her father on May 14, Kim Joo-ae has not made a public appearance for more than two months.Kim Joo-ae seems to have grown a lot taller. Sitting or standing between Foreign Minister Choi and Vice Minister Kim, she doesn't look like a child at first glance, but a new official. Some people question whether Kim Joo-ae is more than 12 years old. This question is not tenable. If you look at the fifth and sixth graders in a primary school, you can see that Kim Joo-ae's height is normal.It is normal for Jin Zhuai to not show up for more than two months, but it is a bit abnormal to be so low-key this time. This is also the first time she has been so low-key since she made a public appearance, although this ceremony is a military-related occasion related to the "descendants and generations" she represents. There must be something unusual when something is abnormal, but what this abnormality means is still uncertain, and we will have to wait for more follow-up information.By the way, according to North Korean media reports, the residents of Sinuiju City who were rescued on July 28 have returned home one after another since August 2.
