North Korea launches salvo of 600 mm ‘super-large' rockets

North Korea launched a salvo of 600 mm “super-large” multiple rocket launchers – towards the Sea of Japan (East Sea) – similar to its March 2024 launch pictured above on a TV at Seoul's Yongsan Railway Station. (SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty)

The Korean People's Army (KPA) fired a salvo of 18 nuclear-capable 600 mm “super-large” rockets towards the Sea of Japan (East Sea) on 30 May, according to a statement published by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) the next day.

KCNA said that the salvo was fired by the 3rd Battalion of the 331st Red Flag Artillery Regiment under the artillery combined unit of the KPA.

The salvo was carried out by operating the integrated fire-control system, which is “a constituent of the combined nuclear weapons management system” of the KPA, KCNA added.

According to KCNA, the rockets “accurately hit an island target 365 km away”.

Pyongyang said it launched the salvo in response to South Korea's “political and military moves to plunder the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK's) sovereignty”.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said after the launch that the nuclear forces of the DPRK “should be more thoroughly prepared to promptly and correctly perform the important mission of deterring a war and taking the initiative in the war at any time and under sudden situation”.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on 30 May that it detected the launch of at least 10 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) from North Korea fired into waters east of the Korean peninsula. The missiles flew for about 350 km, JCS added.