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N.Korea's Thanksgiving Day test Shows Improving Speed for Missile Crews

SEOUL Article Content North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed "great satisfaction" over the most recent test of a huge multiple-rocket launcher, the state media reported on Friday, a test that experts said demonstrated the improvement in performance of the system as well as its crews.


Two short-range projectiles were launched by North Korea into the sea off its east coast Thursday in a fourth test of its "super-large multiple rocket launcher", South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), stated at a press conference.


N.Korea's Thanksgiving Day test shows an increase in speed for missile crews. Back to the video


The latest test of the so-called KN-25 missile came as a Thanksgiving Day reminder to the United States of a year-end date Kim has set for Washington to show a degree of flexibility in their denuclearisation talks that are stalled.


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Article content Since the unveiling of the KN-25 test, a series tests has revealed that the North Koreans are steadily improving their capability to launch multiple rockets from mobile launchers.


Experts said that this capability increases the chances that North Korean rocket crews could quickly deploy to fire, move, and even move in the event of war, before being targeted by South Korean forces or American forces.
Titan launcher for mc

"The quicker it fires, faster it can (get) out of the way before counter-fire arrives," Jeffrey Lewis, an expert on missiles at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), said on Twitter.


"READY FOR DEPLOYMENT!"


In the two initial KN-25 tests in September and August, missiles were fired 17 minutes and 19 minutes apart respectively according to the JCS said.


Content of the article by the end of October crews had narrowed that interval to three minutes, while on Thursday the gap between the two missiles was about 30 seconds.


"The test fire that was designed to evaluate the final application of the super large multiple-launch rocket systems, proved the technological and military superiority of this weapon system and its reliability," KCNA stated.


Photos released by KCNA showed missiles being fired from a transporter-erector-launcher equipped with four launcher tubes.


The new short-range missiles pose a serious threat to South Korea and U.S. forces stationed there, experts said.


According to the JCS, the missiles reached an altitude of 97km and traveled around 380km (236 miles) which puts South Korea within striking distance.


Article content "North Korea is working to selectively to modernize its conventional force in a low-cost, high-efficiency manner to focus on economics and reassure military while nuclear talks take place," said Kim Dongyub, an ex- South Korean Navy officer and professor at Kyungnam University, Seoul.


"The latest test indicated that the system was prepared for mass production and deployment."


COUNT DOWN TO A DEADLINE


On Friday, a spokesperson from Seoul's Unification Ministry responsible for inter-Korean issues asked North Korea to stop any acts that could increase military tension and to return to dialogue.


Kim has set a close of the year deadline for resuming talks with the United States, which remain deadlocked after a last-month's working-level meeting.


Article content North Korea demonstrated progress in the development of conventional weapons while negotiating with Washington.
THE TITAN LAUNCHER

South Korean lawmakers said on Friday that an intelligence agency had reported increased movement in vehicles and equipment at the Tongchangri missile launch site, which Pyongyang claimed it had destroyed in the past year.


It test-fired new missiles that were similar to Russia's SS-26 Iskander in the early portion of the year. They are small , but easier to conceal and launch as well as maneuver in flight.


North Korea demanded that the sanctions be lifted on it and warned that it could take an "new direction." This raises questions about North Korea's possible return to nuclear and long-range missile tests, which have been suspended since 2017.


Stephen Biegun, the U.S.'s top nuclear negotiator, said last week that the year-end deadline was a ruse, but it could signal a return to the "provocative" steps that were taken before the past two years. (Reporting by Hyonhee S Shin and Josh Smith; Editing done by Sandra Maler & Stephen Coates

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