Kim Jongun's South Korea-Targeted Strategic Weapons [Yang Nakgyu's Defence Club]

Integrated Strategy Linking Nuclear Weapons and Advanced Conventional Arms
Emphasis on 600mm Multiple Rocket Launchers Capable of Carrying Tactical Nuclear Warheads

North Korea has declared a diversification of its strategic weapons. This signals its intention to push ahead not only with the development of nuclear weapons but also with advanced conventional weapons, and to fully embark on a nuclear-conventional integration (CNI) strategy that links the two.

Korean Central Television reported on the 23rd that North Korea unanimously adopted a decision on the 22nd, at the fourth-day meeting of the 9th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, to elevate Kim Jong Un, chairman of the State Affairs Commission, to general secretary of the party. Photo by Korean Central Television / Yonhap News

According to the Korean Central News Agency on the 29th, the Party Central Military Commission presented "major tasks to commission new secret weapons and special strategic assets into our armed forces in order to raise the military and technical capabilities of the Republic's armed forces to the world's strongest level during the new five-year plan period." The new five-year plan includes ground- and submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), unmanned attack assets utilizing artificial intelligence, special assets for anti-satellite attacks, electronic warfare weapon systems, and the acquisition of more advanced reconnaissance satellites.

Expanding ICBMs, SLBMs by Increasing Nuclear Warheads

Kim Jongun, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, reaffirmed his commitment to strengthening nuclear forces in the "work review report" at the 9th Congress of the Workers' Party held on the 20th and 21st. He stated, "We have a long-term plan to strengthen the national nuclear forces year by year, and we will devote ourselves to increasing the number of nuclear weapons and expanding the means of nuclear operation and the space in which they are employed." This suggests not only increasing the number of nuclear warheads, but also expanding launch platforms through existing land-based ICBMs as well as submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

Kim in fact emphasized the nuclear armament of surface and underwater forces. At the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party on January 2021, North Korea also presented five core tasks for the development of national defense capabilities, one of which was "possessing nuclear submarines and underwater-launched nuclear strategic weapons," and it now intends to maintain this policy line going forward. The 8,700-ton-class nuclear submarine whose construction scenes North Korea revealed last December is expected to become a key weapon system in its underwater nuclear forces.

Strengthening South Korea-Targeted Strike Means such as 600mm Multiple Rocket Launchers

Kim stressed the need to strengthen strike means against South Korea. As key assets, he pledged to enhance and deploy year by year 600mm multiple rocket launchers capable of carrying tactical nuclear warheads, new 240mm multiple rocket launchers with guidance functions, and tactical guided missiles, which are the North Korean version of the Korea Tactical Surface-to-Surface Missile (KTSSM), in order to increase the density and sustainability of attacks. North Korea also announced plans to develop an electronic attack weapon system capable of paralyzing the enemy's command and communications systems, attack unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with artificial intelligence that can strike targets through image recognition, and laser weapons capable of attacking satellite assets that monitor North Korea.

North Korea had already held a presentation ceremony for 600mm super-large multiple rocket launchers on the 19th of this month, ahead of the Party Congress. The ceremony is analyzed as part of the mass production of tactical nuclear warheads. With a large number of 600mm multiple rocket launchers mounted on launch vehicles being revealed, it signaled that these weapon systems are effectively at the stage of operational deployment. Based on its range approaching 400km and its guidance capabilities, South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities classify the 600mm multiple rocket launcher as a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM).

Ten Types of Weapons Already Revealed with Tactical Nuclear Warhead

The South Korea-targeted strike weapons emphasized by North Korea are those that can be armed with the "Hwasan-31" tactical nuclear warhead that Chairman Kim Jongun revealed during his visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute in 2023. North Korea has claimed that the Hwasan-31 can be mounted on more than 10 types of weapons, including the 600mm super-large multiple rocket launcher (KN-25), the Haeil unmanned underwater attack craft, the Hwasal-1 and Hwasal-2 cruise missiles, the KN-24 (ATACMS), and mini submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). Subsequently, last year, through his speech on the September 9 founding anniversary of the North Korean regime and his visit to the Armored Defense Weapons Institute of the Academy of National Defense Science, Kim revealed plans to increase the number of nuclear weapons and to deploy them operationally.

Major Ballistic Missiles Can Strike All of South Korea

The South Korean military authorities estimate the yield of the Hwasan-31 at 10kt (1kt equals the explosive power of 1,000 tons of TNT). When North Korea conducted its third nuclear test in 2009, it demonstrated an explosive yield of 5kt. If North Korea mounts the Hwasan-31 on eight types of new ballistic missiles such as the KN-23, KN-24, and KN-25, which were developed for strikes on South Korea, the nuclear strike threat against the entire territory of South Korea becomes a reality. The KN-23 (maximum range 800km), KN-24 (600km), and KN-25 (400km) all have ranges that cover the whole of South Korea.

Shin Jongwoo, Secretary General of the Korea Defense and Security Forum (KODEF), said, "By defining South Korea as its primary hostile country and immutable principal enemy, and maintaining the doctrine of two hostile states, North Korea is expected to continue its threats against the South by mass-producing weapon systems that serve as strike assets against South Korea and publicly conducting large-scale launch drills."