Key facts
- North Korean artillery deployed along western front line is legacy weaponry, not new.
- Self-propelled artillery spotted closer to inter-Korean border than usual.
- South Korean military official stated the deployment is not a new weapon system.
SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korean artillery deployed along the western front line appears to be legacy weaponry rather than a new system that Pyongyang recently threatened to forward-deploy, a South Korean military official said Tuesday. What appears to be North Korean self-propelled artillery has been spotted farther south than its usual positions along the western front near the inter-Korean border, close enough to be captured by South Korean media cameras. Photos showed what experts say appears to be a 122 millimeter self-propelled howitzer deployed in a coastal border area. "Our understanding is that North Korea has deployed legacy artillery along coastal areas in plain view," the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) spokesperson Capt. Jang Do-young said in a press briefing. "While North Korea has mentioned new weapons systems in its recent statements, we believe that this cannot be considered as such," he said. Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has threatened to deploy "new tactical weapons" along the heavily fortified border and restart anti-South propaganda broadcasts. The South Korean military has issued repeated warnings over Pyongyang's border fortification activities, which Seoul sees have extended far south to breach the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) separating the two Koreas. This marks the first time North Korea has deployed a heavy weapons system directly along the border, a move that observers view as highly unusual.