North Korea sends 250 missile launchers to border with South

North Korea has sent 250 new mobile ballistic-missile launchers to its forces along the border with South Korea, the Korean Central News Agency reported Monday, underscoring Pyongyang’s increasingly hostile stance toward its neighbor.

North Korea has been able to “take the operational initiative with the overwhelming attack forces and striking means superior to the enemy on all fronts” and “improve the practical effectiveness” of its tactical nuclear weapons, leader Kim Jong Un said Sunday at a ceremony marking the handover.

The deployment of the weapons so close to the border suggests they do not have a very long range, according to the South Korean military.

Some observers think they may be for Hwasong-11D missiles, first test-fired in 2022. At that time, the South Korean military estimated the range of those weapons to be 110 kilometers. Pyongyang may envision using them to strike bases in the northern part of South Korea from near the border.

Seeing the “reckless expansion of the U.S.-led military bloc system, we have come to a conclusion that the nuclear forces of our state and its nuclear posture should be more thoroughgoing and perfect,” Kim said Sunday.

He asserted that the North’s military buildup is “self-defensive.”

On Pyongyang’s approach to dealing with Washington, Kim said that “negotiations and confrontation are among our options, but we must be more thoroughly prepared to cope with the latter — this is the review and conclusion we have derived from the 30-odd years of dealing with the United States.”

“Whether engaged in negotiations or confrontation, possessing a great military strength is an obligation and right,” he said.

Kim touched on the devastating flooding that hit North Korea late last month, saying that holding the handover ceremony for the missiles amid the recovery shows the will of the ruling Workers’ Party to push ahead with the defense buildup without delay in any circumstances.