North Korea on Friday claimed it had tested an underwater nuclear attack drone capable of triggering a “radioactive tsunami,” blaming US-South Korea military exercises for deteriorating regional security.
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Pyongyang conducted its own maneuvers this week, including testing a new submarine nuclear missile launch system, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said on Friday.
“This underwater nuclear attack drone can be deployed on any coast and port, or towed by a surface vessel,” KCNA reported.
The purpose of this weapon is to “sneak into company waters and create a large radioactive tsunami […] to destroy enemy naval assault groups and key operational ports,” she added.
According to KCNA, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the trials. Footage released by the official daily Rodong Sinmun shows a smiling Kim and what appears to be an underwater explosion.
The agency also claimed Pyongyang on Wednesday fired strategic cruise missiles “equipped with a test warhead simulating a nuclear warhead.”
Still, analysts have cast doubt on North Korea’s claims.
The idea that Pyongyang has “a nuclear-capable underwater drone should be viewed with skepticism,” said Professor Leif-Eric Easley of Ewha University in Seoul.
“Pyongyang’s claims of a new weapons system are not the same as a credible demonstration of its capabilities,” he added.
In a post on Twitter, US analyst Ankit Panda did not rule out that the test claim was an “attempted deception/psychological operation”.
Despite everything, the claim is “shocking,” stressed AFP’s Cheong Seong-chang from the Sejong Institute.
If true, it’s hard to imagine how Seoul “could respond to such a formidable new weapon from North Korea that can (say) completely destroy key operational ports in the South.”
KCNA also says that “Pyongyang is more than ready to use its tactical nuclear weapons at any time,” An Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher, told AFP.
nuclear power?
Russia has also reportedly developed a similar weapon — nuclear-capable Poseidon torpedoes — but mastering the complex technology required for such weapons still appears to be beyond North Korea’s reach, experts say.
“An undetectable underwater unmanned drone requires advanced technologies such as control sensors and radar,” Choi Gi-il, a professor of military studies at Sangji University, told AFP.
Pyongyang “is trying to advance and diversify the means of launching warheads,” he adds, but adding that new tests could still give Pyongyang new “terrible” means of delivering a nuclear charge.
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After a record year of weapons testing and a mounting nuclear threat from Pyongyang in 2022, Seoul and Washington stepped up defense cooperation and conducted their largest joint military exercises in five years on March 13-23, 2023.
North Korea views all such exercises as rehearsals for an invasion of its territory and has repeatedly warned that it will respond “massively”.
On Friday, KCNA described the joint exercises between the United States and South Korea, dubbed the “Freedom Shield,” as an exercise aimed at “occupying” North Korea.
Pyongyang’s “underwater nuclear attack drone” exercise was “conducted with the aim of warning the enemy of a real nuclear crisis,” the agency reported.
Kim Jong Un also pointed out that the North’s nuclear capabilities are “reinforcing at a faster rate,” according to KCNA.
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In 2022, Pyongyang called its status as a nuclear power “irreversible”. The North Korean leader recently called for an exponential increase in its weapons production, including tactical nuclear weapons.
Washington has repeatedly reiterated its “unwavering” commitment to defend South Korea by using “the full breadth of its military capabilities, including nuclear capabilities.”
For its part, South Korea is trying to reassure public opinion, which is quite concerned about American commitments regarding what is known as extended deterrence, which thanks to American military means, including nuclear weapons, can prevent attacks on its allies.
Friday’s statement comes about a week after Pyongyang fired its most powerful missile, the Hwasong-17, its second ICBM test in 2023.