Kim Jong Un Adds Train-Launched Missiles to Nuclear Arsenal

North Korea has been modernizing arsenal for quick-strikes
Launch comes as South Korea test missile from submarines

WATCH: Jasper Kim, director of the Center for Conflict Management at Ewha University in Seoul, discusses the tensions on the Korean Peninsula.(Source: Bloomberg)

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By Jeong-Ho Lee and Jihye Lee

September 15, 2021 at 11:58 PM UTC

Updated on

September 16, 2021 at 2:47 AM UTC

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North Korea said its latest volley of ballistic missiles was test-fired from a train, suggesting that leader Kim Jong Un had added a new option for a quick strike against U.S. allies in the region.

The missiles were launched Wednesday from a “railway-borne missile system deployed for action for the first time,” said the official Korean Central News Agency, with photos of at least one launch splashed on the front page of the country’s biggest newspaper. North Korea’s test of two short-range ballistic missiles Wednesday -- a provocation banned under United Nations resolutions -- was its first since March, and prompted an emergency UN Security Council session hours later.