North Korea said it conducted cruise missile launches this week, including a detonation by an alleged underwater drone, as part of nuclear attack simulations.
Nuclear Attack Simulation
In a press release on Friday, the secretive regime’s state mouthpiece, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), said that it had carried out a three-day underwater nuclear attack exercise with the help of a drone deployed off the coast of Riwon County, South Hamgyong Province, to “get familiar with the procedures and processes for carrying out the tactical nuclear attack missions.”
On Thursday, the warhead reached its target in the waters off Hongwon Bay and detonated underwater, where a mock enemy port had been set up.
The news agency said that the warhead cruised along “an oval and pattern-8 course,” at an underwater depth of 80 to 150 meters in the East Sea of Korea for almost 60 hours.
North Korea has recently conducted a new underwater nuclear strategic weapon test and strategic cruise missile exercise per KCNA.
— Global: Military-Info (@Global_Mil_Info) March 23, 2023
The cruise missiles were called Hwasal-1 and Hwasal-2.
It seems the "underwater nuclear attack drone" is comparable to Russia's nuclear-capable… pic.twitter.com/Z07g8jGabi
It added that the nuclear underwater attack drone “can be deployed at any coast and port or towed by a surface ship.”
Moreover, Pyongyang also tested the Hwasal-1-type and two Hwasal-2-type strategic cruise missiles, which had been “tipped with a test warhead simulating a nuclear warhead.”
North Korea proclaimed that the tests, which were presided over by Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, “correctly estimated all the tactical and technical specifications and navigational and technical indices of the underwater nuclear attack drone, verified its reliability and safety, and fully confirmed its lethal strike capability.”
Triggers
KCNA said that the test had been triggered by the US and South Korea’s “intentional, persistent and provocative war drills and confrontational stance,” which have driven the Korean Peninsula’s military and political situation to “an irreversibly dangerous point.”
Kim said that the test aimed to “overwhelmingly and offensively” counter the “reckless military provocations being escalated” by the US and South Korea, which were “in disregard” of the North’s “patience and warning.”
Kim also expressed his intention to make the US and South Korea “plunge into despair” for their recent 11-day joint military drill in the region, which ended on 23 March, and vowed to “further enhance” his country’s military functions and “thoroughly shatter the war maniacs’ confrontational wild dream.”