SEOUL: North Korea said Friday it will deploy new long-range artillery systems this year that are capable of striking South Korea's capital region and will commission its first naval destroyer in coming weeks.
The announcement comes days after South Korea said North Korea's newly revised constitution drops all references to Korean unification, in line with leader Kim Jong Un's vows to terminate ties with South Korea and establish a two-state system on the Korean Peninsula.
Kim visited a munitions factory Wednesday to inspect the production of 155-mm self-propelled gun-howitzers to be deployed at an artillery unit in the southern border area within this year, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported.
KCNA cited Kim as saying the striking range of this large-caliber rifled gun is over 60 kilometers (37 miles). He said that "such a rapid extension of striking range and remarkable improvement of striking capability will provide a great change and advantage in the land operations of our army," according to KCNA.
Kim said various operational and tactical missile systems and powerful multiple rocket launcher systems are also scheduled to be deployed along the border.
North Korea's artillery systems draw less outside attention than its ballistic missiles whose launches are banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions. But the country already deploys many artillery guns near the border with South Korea, posing a serious threat to Seoul, the South Korean capital that has 10 million people and is about 40 to 50 kilometers (25 to 30 miles) from the border.
KCNA said Kim on Thursday rode on the destroyer Choe Hyon to review its maneuverability off North Korea's west coast. Kim ordered authorities to hand over the ship to the navy in mid-June as scheduled, after appreciating the all the tests for the destroyer's operational commissioning progressed smoothly, according to KCNA.
KCNA photos showed Kim's teenage daughter on the destroyer as well, in the latest public activity with her father. One photo showed her standing behind her father as he spoke to navy sailors, and another showed them eating a meal with the crew on the destroyer. South Korea's spy service said last month she could be considered Kim's heir.
The destroyer, which was unveiled with great fanfare last year, is North Korea's largest and most advanced warship. North Korea later unveiled a second destroyer of the same class, but it was damaged during a botched launching ceremony. Kim has called for building two more destroyers.
Kim's latest military inspections came after South Korea said Wednesday that the new North Korean constitution dropped previous commitments to peaceful unification with South Korea and redefined its territory only as the northern half the Korean Peninsula.
The changes reflected Kim's increasingly hard-line stance toward South Korea, which he has declared his country's permanent and most hostile enemy while diplomacy is stalled and tensions rise over his nuclear ambitions. In January 2024, Kim ordered the rewriting of the constitution to eliminate the idea of shared statehood with South Korea, a step that would break away with his predecessors' long-cherished dreams of peacefully achieving a unified Korea on the North's terms.
Kim's vilification of the South has been a major setback for Seoul's liberal government, which desires reengagement and has taken preemptive steps to ease tensions, including shutting down propaganda broadcasts along the border.
North Korea has shunned dialogue with South Korea and the US and focused on expanding its nuclear and missile arsenals since Kim's broader, high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019.
