North Korea plans to station a new long-range artillery system along its border with South Korea, raising fresh alarm about the security of the South Korean capital and its surrounding region.
Kim Jong Un visited a munitions factory this week to inspect production of a new 155-millimetre self-propelled gun-howitzer, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday. The weapon carries a range exceeding 60 kilometres, enough to reach central Seoul, which sits 50 to 60 kilometres from the frontier. South Korea’s most populous region, Gyeonggi province, home to major industrial hubs, would also fall within range.
KCNA quoted Kim as saying the howitzer would “provide significant changes and advantages to our military’s ground operations.” Pyongyang intends to deploy the system to a long-range artillery unit along the border this year.
Hardening Stance Toward the South
The announcement reinforces North Korea’s increasingly hostile posture toward Seoul. Although South Korea’s presidential office reaffirmed on Thursday its commitment to pursuing peace, Pyongyang has repeatedly cast the South as its principal adversary. North Korea has blown up cross-border roads and railways in recent years and erected barriers near the frontier.
Furthermore, an AFP review of North Korea’s revised constitution confirmed this week that Pyongyang removed all references to Korean reunification. The updated document drops the clause seeking “the reunification of the homeland” and instead defines North Korean territory as stretching southward to the “Republic of Korea” — the South’s official name. The two Koreas technically remain at war, as their 1950–53 conflict concluded with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
In related developments, KCNA reported Kim visited the 5,000-ton destroyer Choe Hyon on Thursday to oversee handling tests. Analysts believe the vessel could carry nuclear-capable cruise missiles, following recent strategic launches. Kim expressed satisfaction with the ship’s progress and ordered its formal handover to the navy by mid-June.
