Sweet guys, these North Koreans

First photo from the battle: a ROK Marine K-9 crew readies his gun to return fire. Photo from the Ministry of Defense (and ripped off from here)

So, it appears the North Korean hit Yeonpyeong-do with slightly more than their coastal guns. They hit it with 120mm rockets fired from multiple rocket launchers. And according to lawmaker/military expert Song Young-sun (recently interviewed by the LAT’s John Glionna), the North also employed recently developed thermobaric warheads. The 122mm rockets have eight times the destructive power of North Korea’s coastal guns, and the thermobaric warheads are a special munition that penetrates concrete and kills with high heat and pressure.

Lawmakers showed off the remains of one of 120mm rockets, which landed in the backyard of a post office.

One lawmaker noted that 120mm rocket launchers are not normally deployed to the area from which Tuesday’s attack was launched, which means they were probably moved there from units further in the rear. This lends credence to the belief the attack was carefully planned in advance. The use of the rockets and thermobaric charges also show that North Korea was aiming for lots of damage and lots of dead bodies.

In case Joshua hasn’t said it yet, this is the country we took off the State Department terrorism list.

North Korea’s 122mm rocket launch system is a variation of the Russian BM-21 Grad. The North Koreans, however, prefer to marry their system to the chassis of an Isuzu truck. Interestingly, in World War II, the Soviets liked to stick Katyusha rockets on Studebaker trucks.