Pictures released by North Korea’s state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Sunday showed the country’s leader Kim Jong Un smiling and clapping as he watched the test firing of what the newspaper called a “new tactical weapon”.
The projectiles were fired from North Korea’s Hamhung area around 6 p.m., South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement on Sunday. The projectiles flew about 110 kilometers (about 68.3 miles) at an altitude of 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) with a top speed of Mach 4.0 or less, the statement said.
North Korean state media KCNA reported on Sunday that Kim observed the test firing of a “novel tactical guided missile” which was “successfully carried out”.
KCNA claimed the new weapon has strengthened the country’s “long-range front-line artillery units” and increased efficiency “in[North Korea’s]tactical nuclear weapons operations and diversification of their firepower missions.”
Immediately after the launch, South Korea’s military, intelligence agencies and National Security Bureau held an emergency meeting to assess the situation and discuss countermeasures, the Joint Chiefs of Staff statement said.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in receives real-time reports from the National Security Office and has directed relevant ministries to inspect North Korea’s movements, Moon’s spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee said in a statement Sunday.
“We are aware of North Korea’s statement that they conducted a test of a long-range artillery system. We are analyzing all activities in close coordination with our allies and partners,” a US Department of Defense spokesman added in a statement. The US is “very clear on our commitment to defending (South Korea), Japan and the US homeland.” .
Duyeon Kim, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said North Korea aimed to make missiles that can evade defense systems, with “characteristics that allow them to fly under US and South Korean radars.”
“These types of missiles are particularly threatening to South Korea and Japan, and they are weapons that can be used or even triggered in conflicts,” she said.
Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, added that this is the first time North Korea has “explicitly assigned a missile the role of a tactical nuclear weapon in a test.”
North Korea stepped up its missile tests this year, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in more than four years on March 24, in defiance of international law.
In the first four months of 2022 alone, the North conducted 12 tests; In comparison, it conducted just four tests in 2020 and eight in 2021.
The ICBM was reported to be their most impressive yet – although missile experts and a South Korean military official later said it may have been a less advanced weapon than previously thought.
Duyeon Kim said the tests could have multiple purposes: One of them is to send a message to the North Korean people that “their country is strong despite its apparent economic difficulties.”
North Korea also has “a domestic imperative to manufacture and perfect the types of advanced weapons that Kim Jong Un ordered last year,” she said. This year marks an important year for the country on the North Korean calendar due to several important dates including the 10th anniversary of Kim Jong Un’s reign and the 110th anniversary of the birth of its founder Kim Il Sung.
Lee Sang-hyun, president of South Korea’s think tank Sejong Institute, said Kim may be under pressure to “show his achievements”. April holds many of these important dates and provides an opportunity to “show off to the world your country’s missile and nuclear capabilities.”
Another reason for the latest tests could be the protest against the joint US-South Korea military drills due to take place this month, experts said.
North Korea has long condemned these joint exercises as a serious threat to its security and accuses the US of “hostile policies” towards the country.