North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened high-ranking officials, even presupposes armed conflict [Y transcript]

■ Host: Anchor Yoon Jae-hee
■ Video call: Hong Min, senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Unification,

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN News UP] when quoting.

◇ Anchor> It is also said that he ordered artillery units near the border to be fully prepared for the possibility of North Korea's infiltration of drones. It's called a brigade throughout the front area, how much firepower will these units have?

◆Hongmin> It is estimated that there are about 12 artillery brigades in North Korea. However, among them, eight brigades were mobilized to give preliminary operational instructions. And I expressed that I lowered my readiness for shooting. Those eight will be the corps stationed along the border. For example, the 4th Corps, 2nd Corps, 5th Corps, and 1st Corps are deployed along the armistice line from the West Sea to the East Sea. The corps has two artillery brigades in place.

So this artillery brigade can usually be divided into a multi rocket launcher brigade and a self-propelled artillery brigade. So, as you all know about the multi-launch artillery brigade, this multi-launch rocket is a multi-launch rocket. Therefore, stacking multiple tubes in a rectangular form and continuously launching simultaneously or sequentially is called a multiple rocket. It can be said that it is the multi-launch brigade that mainly deals with such weapons. As for the self-propelled artillery series, it can be seen that the self-propelled artillery brigade is in charge of weapons that send a straight distance as a kind of artillery, like K-9, which we usually talk about.

Usually, there are various caliber ranges from 122mm to 240mm multiple rocket launchers. In addition, there is a 170mm grain scatter in the self-propelled gun series. There is a 170mm Goksanpo after the name of Goksan Mountain. It can be said that this is mainly a series of self-propelled artillery deployed by North Korea. In addition, 300mm large-caliber multiple rocket launchers, which are believed to have been developed and completed by North Korea around 2014, have already been deployed, so it is highly likely that they will be in a ready firing position this time. In the case of 300mm large diameter multiple rocket launchers, the range is approximately 150km to 200km.

So, if you fire from the back of the coastal area, it can be seen as a weapon that can strike the central part of Korea. These weapons, which are related to the remaining 122mm, 240mm, or 170mm, have a range of about 15km to 50km. Therefore, if it is deployed in the front, there is a possibility that major military facilities in the metropolitan area and the borderline area will be targeted.

◇Anchor> It is also newly reported that Chairman Kim Jong-un convened a defense and safety council yesterday on the infiltration of drones. I wonder if it should be viewed as related to the movement of these artillery units, or if there is a possibility of preparing another large-scale provocation.

◆Hongmin> It seems to be recognized as a very serious situation. Therefore, the military leadership, especially the chief of reconnaissance, which is most essential in this situation related to South Korea, and all the military leaders related to the operation gathered. If you look at the contents, it says that it activates the deterrent of war. He expressed that he had done a significant task to operate the deterrent of war. The term war deterrence is usually used in nuclear weapons. Usually, rather than the concept of suppressing something in combat or a small local war in general, suppressing war itself can be usually expressed through nuclear weapons, and Kim Jong-un has always said that when he mentions nuclear weapons, it is a level of deterrent to war.

Therefore, we can actually interpret that the term "activation of war deterrence" suggests even the use of nuclear force beyond the so-called artillery-centered response that is currently deployed. So, in this area, the threat level has been slightly increased. I think we can interpret it this carefully.

Perhaps the UN, which will be developed later, will investigate this and produce the results of the investigation. And there are various variables to see if the drone invasion will fly away regardless of our military's will. Therefore, it is difficult to rule out the possibility that North Korea's current posture or North Korea's response will become more aggressive according to these variables. However, what North Korea has said so far has always indicated that it will not attack first if it does not take an aggressive attitude in advance, so we need to wait and see whether these parts will move to offensiveness, preemptiveness, and climb the escalation ladder higher.

Excerpted from
: Lee Sun Digital News Team Editor

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