North Korea said Friday it has tested an underwater unmanned nuclear strike device that could create a “radioactive tsunami.”
This week, Pyongyang also conducted military maneuvers, including testing a new underwater nuclear missile launcher system, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported.
“This submarine nuclear attack device can be placed on any coast and harbor or towed by a surface craft”, progressed to KCNA.
The purpose of the device is “to stealthily infiltrate operational waters and create a large-scale radioactive tsunami … to destroy enemy naval strike groups and key operational ports,” he added.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally supervised the tests. said the KCNA. This is also reported by the agency On Wednesday, Pyongyang fired strategic cruise missiles “equipped with a test warhead simulating a nuclear warhead”.
However, some analysts questioned North Korea’s claims.
The idea that Pyongyang “has a nuclear submarine warhead should be viewed with skepticism,” said Professor Leif-Eric Easley of Seoul’s Ewha University.
In a publication on the social network Twitter, US analyst Ankit Panda did not rule out that the claim about the test was an “attempted deception/psychological maneuver”.
I tend to take North Korea seriously, but can’t rule out this being an attempt at deception/psyop. It would be unwise to allocate limited fizmat for a warhead to go in this thing, IMO, vs. more road mobile ballistic missiles. More to be determined.
– Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) March 23, 2023
Yet the The claim “is shocking,” said Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Instituteto AFP.
If that’s true, it’s hard to see how Seoul “could react to such an incredible new weapon from North Korea that it could completely destroy South Korea’s main operational ports,” he said.
Seoul says North Korea will pay for reckless provocations
The South Korean president said North Korea “will pay for reckless provocations,” hours after Pyongyang announced tests of a new type of underwater nuclear strike device.
Yoon Suk-yeol spoke at a memorial service for 55 sailors who died in the Yellow Sea during the so-called Second Battle of Yeongpyeong in 2002 and after a torpedo launched by a North Korean submarine against the corvette Cheonan in 2010.
“North Korea is advancing day after day with nuclear weapons and carrying out provocations with unprecedented intensity,” Yoon said.at the ceremony, which took place at a cemetery in Daejeon, 139 kilometers south of Seoul.
“Our government and military will dramatically strengthen South Korea’s tripartite system in the face of missile strikes and provocations from the north, and strengthen security cooperation with the United States and Japan.”
Source: DN
