In reaction to joint naval drills by Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo that featured a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, North Korea announced on Friday that it had tested a “underwater nuclear weapon system”.
In response, Pyongyang “conducted an important test of its underwater nuclear weapon system ‘Haeil-5-23’ under development in the East Sea of Korea,” according to a statement from the defense ministry carried by state news agency KCNA. The statement claimed that the drills were “seriously threatening the security” of the North.
Early last year, Pyongyang said it had carried out multiple tests of a purported underwater nuclear attack drone — a different version of the Haeil, which means tsunami in Korean — claiming it could unleash a “radioactive tsunami”.
Analysts have questioned whether Pyongyang has such a weapon.
Joint naval exercises were conducted earlier this week by South Korea, the US, and Japan in the waters off the southern part of Jeju Island. The participating countries claimed that the drills were a reaction to North Korea’s launch of a hypersonic missile on Sunday.
Nine warships from the three nations participated in the exercises, among them the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.
According to KCNA, a spokesman for the defense ministry stated on Friday that Pyongyang believed the drills “constituted a cause of further destabilizing the regional situation, and they are an act of seriously threatening the security” of the North.
North Korea’s own test — the exact date of which was not given — ensured “our army’s underwater nuke-based countering posture is being further rounded off and its various maritime and underwater responsive actions will continue to deter the hostile military maneuvers of the navies of the US and its allies,” the spokesman said.
Long-tense relations between the two Koreas have sharply deteriorated in recent months as both sides have abandoned important agreements aimed at lowering tension, increased border security, and started holding live-fire drills.
Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un referred to the South as his nation’s “principal enemy,” sacked organizations in charge of outreach and reunification, and threatened to go to war over “even 0.001 mm” of territorial violations.
