SEOUL (Brussels Independent with AP) – North Korea has tested a new nuclear-capable underwater attack drone.
During the test, the new North Korean drone cruised 80 to 150 meters (260 to 500 feet) deep underwater for more than 59 hours and detonated a non-nuclear payload in waters off the east coast, according to North Korean state news agency KCNA.
Analysts say North Korea boasts an increasingly diversified nuclear threat to Washington and Seoul, but are skeptical about the operational readiness of its submarines.
North Korea intends to “let the United States and South Korea know that in the event of war, the Allies have a vast array of potential nuclear weapons delivery vehicles to worry about and have to attack,” said a senior U.S. fellow. said Ankit Panda. Based on the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“There will be silos, wagons, submarines, mobile rocket launchers for road traffic. And now they’re adding this underwater torpedo to the mix,” he said.
On Monday, the isolated nation flew short-range missiles from buried silos, deviating from its usual grassroots methods.
Called “Hail” or Tsunami, this new unmanned aerial vehicle system is designed to carry out surprise attacks in enemy waters and destroy naval strike groups and major ports of operations by producing large radiation waves through underwater explosions. has been, he said KCNA.
It is unclear whether North Korea has fully developed the small nuclear warheads needed to load small nuclear weapons.
Analysts say perfecting such a warhead will most likely become a key goal when North Korea resumes nuclear testing.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects missile exercises
South Korea and the United States say the exercises are purely defensive, criticizing North Korea’s tests as destabilizing and violating United Nations sanctions.
The Allies completed his 11th day of regular spring exercises called Freedom Shield 23 on Thursday, while other field exercises continue.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has expressed a desire to “drive the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet regime into despair over their elections,” KCNA said, urging the enemy to stop the ruthless anti-North Korea war drills. He added that he was warned.
The director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency said Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears reluctant to conduct a nuclear test during US-South Korea military exercises, but the US remains vigilant.
