Pak Jong Chon, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, guided a test firing drill of a railway-borne missile regiment.

Among the spectators were officials of the Department of Political Leadership over Military Affairs and the Department of Munitions Industry of the C.C., WPK, leading officials of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army and the sector of research on national defence science.

The 8th Congress of the Party, as part of the establishment of a new national defence strategy, organized a railway-borne missile regiment to increase the capability of dealing an intensive multi-concurrent blow at the forces posing threats to us at a time of conducting necessary military operations and to markedly improve the capability for more positively coping with various sorts of threats.

The test firing drill took place for the purpose of confirming the practicality of the railway-borne missile system deployed for action for the first time, of judging the combat readiness and capability of performing firepower duty of the newly-organized regiment all of a sudden and of attaining proficiency in the action procedures in case of fighting an actual war.

The railway-borne missile regiment took part in the drill with a mission to strike the target area 800 kilometers away from its location after moving to the central mountainous area at dawn on September 15.

The regiment finished rapid movement and deployment according to the norm of the operation and action procedures of the railway-borne missile system, and accurately struck the target in the East Sea of Korea according to the firepower mission.

Pak Jong Chon appreciated that the test firing drill of the regiment was successfully conducted in line with the strategic and tactical design and intention of our Party.

Saying that the railway-borne missile system serves as an efficient counter-strike means capable of dealing a harsh multi-concurrent blow to the threat-posing forces through separate performances of firepower duty in different parts of the country, he called upon the army and relevant field to steadily round off tactical plans for properly applying this system to suit to the geographical conditions and actual situation of our country.

He discussed in detail the matter of making the railway-borne missile regiment acquire the operational experience for actual war and expanding and reorganizing it as a railway-borne missile brigade at an early date in the future.

He said that the deployment of the railway-borne missile system for action in accordance with the line and policies on modernizing the army set forth at the 8th Congress of our Party holds very great significance in increasing the war deterrence of the country.

Rodong Sinmun