World

North Korea will deploy new artillery targeting South

By AAP Newswire

May 8, 2026

North Korea Koreas Tensions — North Korea's Kim Jong-un has visited a munitions factory to inspect various military artillery. -AP

North Korea will deploy new long-range artillery systems that are capable of striking South Korea's capital region and will commission its first naval destroyer in coming weeks.

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Friday's announcement came days after South Korea said North Korea's newly revised constitution drops all references to Korean unification, in line with leader Kim Jong-n's vows to terminate ties with South Korea and establish a two-state system on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim visited a munitions factory Wednesday to inspect the production of 155mm self-propelled gun-howitzers to be deployed at an artillery unit in the southern border area by the end of 2026, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported.

KCNA cited Kim as saying the striking range of this large-calibre rifled gun is more than 60km. He said that "such a rapid extension of striking range and remarkable improvement of striking capability will provide a great change and advantage in the land operations of our army," according to KCNA.

Kim said various operational and tactical missile systems and powerful multiple rocket launcher systems are also scheduled to be deployed along the border.

North Korea's artillery systems draw less outside attention than its ballistic missiles whose launches are banned under UN Security Council resolutions.

But the country already deploys many artillery guns near the border with South Korea, posing a serious threat to Seoul, the South Korean capital that has 10 million people and is about 40-50km from the border.

Kim's latest military inspections came after South Korea on Wednesday said the new North Korean constitution dropped previous commitments to peaceful unification with South Korea and redefined its territory only as the northern half the Korean Peninsula.

The changes reflected Kim's increasingly hard-line stance toward South Korea, which he has declared his country's permanent and most hostile enemy while diplomacy is stalled and tensions rise over his nuclear ambitions.

In January 2024, Kim ordered the rewriting of the constitution to eliminate the idea of shared statehood with South Korea, a step that would break away with his predecessors' long-cherished dreams of peacefully achieving a unified Korea on the North's terms.