Seoul, May 8 North Korea plans to deploy a new self-propelled howitzer along its border with South Korea by the end of this year, state media said Friday, as it seeks to bolster its defence capabilities.
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a munitions factory Wednesday to review production of a "new-type 155 mm self-propelled gun-howitzer" destined for three battalions to be stationed at a long-range artillery unit along the "southern border."
The self-propelled gun-howitzer has a striking range exceeding 60 kilometres, the report said, which is enough to place Seoul within firing range of North Korean front-line positions.
Kim "reaffirmed that the year 2026 will also record an unprecedented upgrade in the course of struggle for bolstering up the national defence capability of the country," the KCNA said, urging cadres to achieve "signal successes every day" through intensified efforts to strengthen military readiness.
In a separate KCNA report, Kim visited the 5,000-tonne warship Choe Hyon on Thursday to observe a maneuvering assessment test ahead of its commissioning.
Photos released by state media showed Kim's daughter Ju-ae accompanying him on the inspection.
He boarded the destroyer and took part in a navigation test conducted in the Yellow Sea and inspected the vessel's operational capabilities and combat readiness.
Expressing satisfaction with the ship's construction progress, Kim ordered it to be delivered to the navy by mid-June as scheduled, according to the report.
Pyongyang has conducted a series of strategic cruise missile tests from the destroyer, which analysts believe may be capable of carrying nuclear warheads, Yonhap news agency reported.
North Korea unveiled the Choe Hyon destroyer in April last year as part of a broader push to modernise its naval forces.
Following the launch of a similar destroyer, the Kang Kon, in June 2025, Kim ordered the construction of a third vessel of the same class in time for the ruling Workers' Party of Korea's founding anniversary on October 10.
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