North Korea’s Kim showcases new sniper rifle as South Korea impeaches president Yoon Suk-yeol

Footage of Kim Jong-un personally testing the new sniper rifle came on the same day that South Korea’s Constitutional Court upheld president Yoon’s impeachment

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North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un looks through a rifle scope as he visits a training base of the Korean People’s Army’s special operations forces. Photo: KCNA/KNS/AFP

Published: 1:31pm, 5 Apr 2025

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un test-fired a newly developed sniper rifle, state media said on Saturday, as he inspected special forces whose training he said bolstered “actual war capability for guaranteeing victory”.

Such units are among the thousands of troops that South Korea’s spy agency says Pyongyang has deployed to Russia to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

During the visit to a special operations unit on Friday, Kim said the “actual war capability for guaranteeing victory in the war field is bolstered up through intensive training,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

He added that their training is “the most vivid expression of patriotism and loyalty to the country,” according to the agency.

Images released by state media showed Kim peering through the scope of a sniper rifle that KCNA said was going to be “newly supplied to special operation units”.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un visits a training base to observe a comprehensive training session, at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Photo: KCNA/KNS/AFP

Other images showed him pointing to the bullseye of a target, crouching alongside heavily camouflaged soldiers, and smiling and waving to troops.