North Korean youth group donates multiple rocket launchers to military

Multiple rocket launchers donated by the Korean Children's Union moving along outside the Mangyongdae Children's Palace in Pyongyang on Tuesday. [KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY]

A North Korean state youth organization has donated multiple rocket launchers to the country's military on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the organization's founding, state media said Wednesday.

The Korean Children's Union (KCU) made the donations at a ceremony Tuesday in Pyongyang after taking part in a labor movement designed to help secure the weapons, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The labor movement is known to be staged to raise funds for the North Korean military by utilizing child and female labor to harvest medicinal herbs and collect leftover crops and scrap iron.

The donated rocket launchers were named "Sonyeon," which means a boy in Korean, and were sent to the country's military units after the ceremony, KCNA said. It did not specify details on the weapon systems.

The KCU, founded in 1946, is a youth organization composed of children aged 7 to 14. The number of its members, known for wearing red neckerchiefs, is presumed to have reached some three million.

Yonhap