North Korea Claims to Deploy 250 Missile Launchers to South Korean Border, Kim Jong-un: Dialogue or Confrontation the Choices

The launch of North Korea's new missile launcher. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - North Korea claims to be sending 250 new tactical ballistic missile launchers to its border with South Korea, in the latest aggressive statement by Leader Kim Jong-un toward his neighbor.

Photos published by North Korea's state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun show what appears to be a vehicle-based missile launcher, with dozens of large green military trucks neatly lined up in front of Leader Kim.

He personally supervised the symbolic handover of the latest missile launchers to the military, delivering a speech claiming the new missile launchers were made with North Korean technology, state media reported, as reported by CNN on August 5.

He said the move was the first stage of a plan to build a missile force for North Korea's military border units.

"Dialogue or confrontation can be our choice, but what we should prepare more for is confrontation," Leader Kim explained, adding that it was "the main tone of our policy toward the US that we have always maintained."

North Korea's launch of new missile launchers. (Source: KCNA)

North Korea will emphasize that "if the US ignores its repeated warnings and continues to try to undermine regional security, it will have terrible consequences for its own security," he said.

The border between North and South Korea is one of the most militarized in the world. Pyongyang has long claimed to have a large amount of artillery and military hardware pointing south.

While the photos appeared to show dozens of green transport-erector launch vehicles, and trucks equipped with missile launchers positioned behind the driver's cabin, it was unclear whether any of the vehicles had working missiles during Sunday's event.

Joseph Dempsey, associate research fellow for defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said Monday that it was difficult to judge whether any missiles were loaded at the ceremony, but "it seems unlikely and implausible on practical and security grounds."

He added that the design and terminology of the launcher "are associated with the Hwasong-11D, a short-range ballistic missile that North Korea claims can be armed with tactical nuclear warheads."

"Assuming all 250 launchers are functional, it is unclear whether North Korea has produced the appropriate capacity of 1,000 missiles (and more)," he added.

"It is highly unlikely that North Korea has at least that many tactical nuclear warheads," he said.