North Korea announced on Friday that it had tested a nuclear-capable underwater attack drone. This weapon is theoretically capable of destroying an entire port city.
North Korean state media reported that the test was intended as a coercive response to U.S.-South Korean military exercises.
“The Underwater Weapon Systems Research Institute under the North Korean Academy of Defense Sciences conducted an important test of the Hail-5-23 underwater nuclear weapon system under development in the East Sea of Korea,” North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. report.
DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the name the North Korean regime prefers for itself. “Hail” is the name given to a series of underwater drones that North Korea has been developing since 2012. Only a few of the early tests have been made public, but dictator Kim Jong Un claimed Friday to have overseen at least 29 tests over the past decade.
KCNA quoted an unnamed North Korean military as saying, “Our military's counterattack posture with underwater nuclear weapons has been further strengthened, and various response actions at sea and underwater will continue to be carried out by the naval forces of the United States and its allies. It will deter military action.” Formal.
When Pyongyang roll out When the latest generation of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) was developed in March 2023, the weapon's purpose was to “clandestinely enter operational areas, cause an underwater explosion to create a super-massive radioactive tsunami, and destroy naval strike forces and major forces.” “to destroy a major operational port.'' enemy. “
In Friday's test, the Hale-5-23 drone allegedly “cruised for 59 hours and 12 minutes along eight courses in an oval pattern at a depth of 80 to 150 meters in the East Sea of Korea” before detonating its non-nuclear warhead. Against the “enemy port” mock-up.
KCNA said the experiment “validated” the reliability of the Haeil platform and “fully confirmed its lethal attack capability.”
Outside observers were skeptical of North Korea's claims, especially that the helicopter UUV was a devastating superweapon that could slip past South Korea's undersea defenses.
“What we know about it is that if it's anything close to last year's test, this underwater drone is likely to be quite slow. This is a very exotic system,” Seoul said. says Professor Mason Ritchie of the Korea University of Foreign Studies. Said Al Jazeera News on Friday.
“It would probably only travel at about 8 knots per hour, or about 14 to 15 km/h. It would probably be very vulnerable to anti-submarine warfare,” he said.
Ritchie thought the UUV test was perhaps a bit of a theatrical “political signal” by North Korea to show that it was still enraged by the US and South Korean military exercises.America, Korea, Japan carried out A large-scale three-day joint naval exercise involving the aircraft carrier USS will be held off the coast of South Korea's Jeju Island this week. Carl Vinson.
North Korea's Ministry of Defense issued a statement. statement It condemned the “reckless actions of the United States and its supporters” that seriously threaten the security of North Korea, and threatened “catastrophic consequences” if such drills were to be held.
The UUV experiment was carried out the day after Kim Jong Un announced He called for North Korea to abandon its long-professed goal of “unification” with South Korea and to rewrite the constitution to designate South Korea as North Korea's “principal and unalterable main enemy.”
South Korean intelligence agencies have long accused North Korea of exaggerating the capabilities of its UUV program. Asked The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) called for an emergency meeting on Thursday to “break the silence” on North Korea's rapidly escalating weapons tests.
Security Council meeting convened to discuss North Korea issue test Sunday's intermediate-range ballistic missile launch will be North Korea's first provocative launch in 2024.
The launch was particularly problematic because North Korea claims to have developed a solid-fuel rocket engine. Solid-fuel rocket engines are systems that can be prepared and launched much faster than liquid-fueled missiles. North Korea already has solid-fuel short-range missiles, but the intermediate-range weapon tested on Sunday could potentially attack U.S. military bases in Guam and Okinawa.
Robert Wood, the US deputy ambassador to the United Nations, agreed with South Korea's representative that North Korea's provocative weapons tests were “very concerning.”
Wood noted that North Korea's nuclear test was a violation of Security Council sanctions and called on “all members of the Security Council to implement these resolutions.”
