Kim Jong Un rolls out new rocket launchers as party congress nears

North Korea has staged another carefully timed display of military hardware, with Kim Jong Un unveiling dozens of what state media describe as nuclear-capable multiple rocket launchers just days before the country’s most important political gathering. The message is less about the weapons themselves than about the direction Pyongyang intends to formalise at the upcoming Workers’ Party congress.

According to the Korean Central News Agency, 50 launchers of the 600mm calibre system were presented by munitions workers in a ceremony in Pyongyang. Images showed the vehicles lined up in symmetrical formation outside the House of Culture, the venue for the congress — a visual that blends industrial achievement, military strength and party legitimacy in a single frame.

Kim’s language followed the familiar script of North Korean strategic signalling. He called the system “wonderful” and “attractive” and warned that “When this weapon is used, actually, no force would be able to expect God’s protection,” according to KCNA. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency quoted him describing it as “the world’s most advantageous weapon for concentrated super-powerful attack”.

He framed the launchers as “appropriate for a special attack, that is, for accomplishing a strategic mission”, a formulation widely understood as a reference to nuclear delivery capability. The systems, he said, incorporate “AI technology and compound guidance systems” and would serve to deter unnamed adversaries.

The timing is the real point. The ninth congress of the Workers’ Party is expected to set out North Korea’s policy line for the next five years — from foreign relations to war planning and nuclear development. In that context, the weapons presentation functions as a pre-congress signal: a declaration that military modernisation remains at the centre of the state’s strategic identity.

Kim made that link explicit, saying the congress “will declare the next phase of the self-reliant defence initiative” and accelerate the “project of constantly renewing our military capabilities” in order to “subdue any threats and challenges from outside forces”.

Such events are as much political theatre as military update. By crediting munitions workers for the launchers, the leadership ties the defence programme to domestic production and the ideology of self-reliance. By placing the display at the congress venue, it visually merges party authority with military progress.

State media in recent days have reported delegates arriving in Pyongyang, suggesting the meeting could open at any moment. When it does, the rollout of the new systems will already have set the tone: continuity in nuclear ambition, continued emphasis on deterrence and a renewed pledge to expand capabilities despite international pressure.