North Korea claimed Friday morning that it tested a “nuclear underwater attack drone” this week amid joint US and South Korean military exercises, according to state media outlet Korean Central News Agency.
According to North Korea, the new underwater weapon is intended to “secretly penetrate operational waters” and attack naval strike groups and enemy ports.
“This nuclear underwater attack drone can be deployed to any coast and port, or towed by a surface vessel for operations,” KCNA said in a statement. North Korea claimed a test warhead detonated in the waters off Hongwon Bay on Thursday afternoon.
North Korea claims it tested a “nuclear underwater attack drone” on Thursday afternoon. (North Korean state media company KCNA)
North Korea claims the new weapon system exploded on a preset target in the waters off Hongwon Bay. (North Korean state media company KCNA)
The weapons test came as the US and South Korea completed Freedom Shield 23, a series of military exercises around the Korean Peninsula that began March 11. The US, India, Japan, Canada and South Korea also began anti-submarine warfare in the Indo-Pacific region with Sea Dragon 23 last week.
US-SOUTH KOREA DRILLS DETER NORTH KOREA, PENTAGON CLAIMS HOURS AFTER NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES ICBM
North Korea slammed “US imperialists and the South Korean puppet regime of traitors” over the drills, saying the political situation on the Korean peninsula is at an “irreversibly dangerous juncture”.
“The war scenario of enemy forces against the DPRK, based on the deployment of huge nuclear strategic assets, the amount of forces involved in its implementation and the resulting peculiar nature of the war, urgently requires the DPRK to deploy its entire armed forces preparing for an attack total war,” Pyongyang state media said.
North Korea also fired several strategic cruise missiles from South Hamgyong province on Wednesday.
South Korean and US Army soldiers pose for a group photo with South Korean Army K1A1 tanks before a live-fire exercise that is part of the joint South Korean-US military exercise “Freedom Shield” at a military training ground near the demilitarized zone of separation of the two Koreas in Pocheon, South Korea, March 22, 2023. (Portal/Kim Hong-Ji)
South Korean soldiers take part in a joint river crossing exercise, part of the joint U.S.-South Korea military exercise Freedom Shield, near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Yeoncheon, South Korea, March 13, 2023. ( The Ministry of Defense/Handout via Portal)
A South Korean Army K1A1 tank fires at a military training area near the demilitarized zone the two Koreas have in Pocheon, South Korea, during a live-fire exercise that is part of the joint South Korea-US military exercise “Freedom Shield.” separates. March 22, 2023. (Portal/Kim Hong-Ji)
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US Army Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley testified before Congress Thursday that China remains the US’ “long-term number one geostrategic security challenge,” but noted that North Korea also poses a major threat in the region .
“North Korea’s continued ballistic missile testing and nuclear weapons development pose a real threat to our homeland and to Indo-Pacific allies and partners,” Milley told the House Budget Committee.