Korean systems: DPRK ready to deploy 250 missile launchers
North Korea is preparing to deploy 250 operational-tactical missile launchers around Pyongyang. This was reported by the South Korean Defense Intelligence Agency this week. No existing anti-missile system in the world would be able to repel a strike by such a group. What North Korea really has and what potential could threaten their southern neighbors in the event of a conflict - in the material "Izvestia".
Kim's arsenals
The main concern of the South Korean intelligence was caused by massive deliveries to the North Korean Armed Forces of relatively new four-missile launchers of ballistic missiles Hwasongpo-11Ra, which is also known in the West as Hwasong-11D. Each mobile launcher carries a package of four transport and launch containers with munitions of the U.S. ATACMS missile class, which can have a range of 200 to 300 kilometers. With such characteristics, missiles from North Korean territory can hit targets in a large part of the South's territory and even in the non-nuclear version pose a very tangible threat.
The new missile threat is also peculiar in its massive deliveries to the armed forces. In August 2024, 250 launchers (total salvo of 1,000 missiles) were delivered to the DPRK army at one time. It is likely that we saw part of this batch of launchers in a report from the production facility visited by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in May 2024. At least 100 of these systems were shown at that time. Generally speaking, the missile system was adopted for service in 2023, and its first tests were noted a year earlier.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
Its missile is believed to have a flight speed of about four speeds of sound and has a perfect autonomous control system that allows it to strike targets with known coordinates in advance. Massive use of such munitions really cannot be repelled by any modern air defense or missile defense system - they will simply take the number and destroy hundreds of targets. The only effective way to counter such a strike is to preemptively destroy the launchers on the ground.
But the probability of success of such an operation also looks doubtful, given that South Korea can use no more than 200 strike aircraft and a still very limited number of its own missile systems against 250-plus launchers, which are distributed over the terrain and camouflaged.
"Kimskanders are on standby
All the more so because the DPRK's arsenal is not exhausted by the Hwasong-11D complexes. In 2019, test launches of "kimskanders" - KN-23 missiles (Western designation), which are very close to the Russian 9K720 Iskander-M complex in their configuration and combat capabilities, were launched. Two missiles on a launcher, range - up to 400 kilometers, several variants of warheads and a modern high-precision guidance system.
Today, the KN-23s have already been tested not only from automobile launchers, but are also part of North Korea's BZHRK, a "railroad combat missile system." That is, they are based on railroad launchers, which in peacetime can be located in protected underground tunnels. Missiles of this type are also a difficult target for modern air defense/projectile defense systems.
And back in 2019, launches of the new KN-25 (Western designation) large-caliber multiple launch rocket system (KN-25) were shown for the first time and have been repeatedly demonstrated since then. The caliber of the missile is 600 mm, the self-propelled tracked launcher accommodates six transport and launch containers. The DPRK army already has dozens of such launchers. The range of such missiles should reach 400 kilometers, and the missile is highly accurate - it is equipped with aerodynamic rudders to adjust the flight path and, apparently, inertial and possibly satellite guidance system. Such missiles can absolutely perform an anti-missile maneuver, frustrating any air defense attempts to shoot them down.
In general, in the event of a possible conflict, the DPRK can field not 250 launchers, but, apparently, up to 500. And this is not counting conventional multiple rocket launchers of calibers from 120 to 300 mm, of which the Korean People's Army has no less. And there is also artillery of large caliber. There is also aviation, although in relatively small numbers and represented by not the most advanced airplanes.
Missiles for the U.S.
In addition, there are medium and intercontinental-range ballistic missiles - they are no longer intended for South Korea, but for strikes against American bases in the Pacific region, as well as directly against the United States. But the main threat is a huge number of operational-tactical missile systems, the impact of which cannot be stopped.
And here we should note one more point - the DPRK has created a thermonuclear warhead of 500 mm caliber, which can be placed on all of the above missiles. It is clear that missiles with special warheads will be designed for especially important targets and facilities, and it is also clear that there cannot be many of them. No industry will be able to produce thousands of such warheads, but thousands are not needed - a few dozen will suffice. And this is already a realistic estimate of the probable nuclear potential of the DPRK at the beginning of 2025.
Launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with a hypersonic warhead
Of course, we would like all this "wealth" to remain on the ground and be used only during demonstration launches. Because a big "hot" war is guaranteed to destroy not only South Korea. Its consequences will affect all countries in the region.
