North Korea fired with KN-09 300mm MLRS Multiple Launch Rocket System into its east waters 0207142.

Defence & Security News - North Korea

The KN-09 is a 300mm MLRS Multiple Launch Rocket system with 12 launcher tubes mounted on 6x6 or 8x8 truck chassis. According to some military sources, the KN-09 has a maximum range of 200km.

The system could be derived from the Russian 300 mm BM-30 Smerch, and others from the Chinese WS-1B or the Syrian M-302. A limited number of KN-09 are in service with the North Korean army and still under development.

The projectiles, which flew some 180 km, were fired from Wonsan areas, the DPRK's southeastern region, into the east waters.

The military official said the two projectiles fired earlier in the day were similar in range and trajectory with those launched on June 26.

The DPRK launched two Scud missiles, which flew 500 km, into its east waters on June 29 after firing three KN-09 shells with a range of 190 km on June 26.

The Wednesday firing came a day after South Korea refused a proposal of the DPRK to stop all military hostilities from Friday.

The DPRK called for South Korea to scrap this year's Ulchi Freedom Guardian military exercise between Seoul and Washington slated for August, but South Korea said "there is something hard to accept actually" in the DPRK's call.

Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Eui-do told a routine press briefing that the DPRK was believed to have fired missiles recently after considering the inter-Korean ties and its external relations, urging Pyongyang to stop such military actions that can escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The Wednesday firing was the DPRK's 12th launch of missiles or artillery shells this year. The DPRK has launched a total of 97 short- and medium-range missiles and shells since Feb. 21.