North Korea launched two “strategic cruise missiles” from a submarine, state-run media announced Monday, hours before South Korea and the United States kicked off their largest joint military drills in five years.
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North Korea’s backlash at South Korea
The nuclear-armed North said the “underwater launching drill” had “confirmed the reliability” of the weapons, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a report, calling the submarine-launched missiles part of its “nuclear deterrent.” It said the two strategic cruise missiles “precisely hit” preset targets in the Sea of Japan after travelling for 1,500 kilometres along figure eight-shaped flight paths for more than two hours.
Such a distance would put virtually all of Japan including key U.S. military bases within striking distance.
The North often uses the word “strategic” to refer to weapons that are nuclear capable. The firing of cruise missiles from a submarine was believed to be a first for the country, and adds yet another dimension to its ability to deliver nuclear bombs to South Korea and Japan. Last month, North Korea said it had launched four Hwasal-2 strategic cruise missiles that “clearly demonstrated the war posture of the DPRK nuclear combat force bolstering up in every way its deadly nuclear counterattack capability.”
Experts say cruise missiles present a unique danger in that they can fly low and manoeuvre, making them potentially very difficult to intercept by air and missile defences.
The misinformed status of cruise missiles
Unlike ballistic weapons, cruise missiles are not banned under United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang. Ahead of the North Korean announcement, the South Korean military said Monday that it had detected an unspecified missile launched from a submarine in waters off the North’s eastern coastal city of Sinpo on Sunday morning, the Yonhap news agency reported. The military did not immediately provide other details.
“While strengthening its monitoring and vigilance, our military is maintaining a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States,” the South Korean military said in a statement. The launch came hours before South Korea and the United States kicked off the Freedom Shield joint military exercises on Monday. The exercises are scheduled to run through March 23
In a separate statement carried by KCNA, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry criticised the drills and slammed the United States over plans to hold an informal meeting later this week on North Korea’s human rights record.
Imperialists vs. Thinkers
North Korea’s people are ready “‘to mercilessly punish the U.S. imperialists totally denying the sovereignty of our state and its socialist system and thus make them pay dearly without fail,” the statement said. Sunday’s submarine-launched missile exercises were the latest signal that the North has moved from testing its powerful weapons to conducting drills that demonstrate the country could take “actual action rather than words.”
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said that while the submarine-launched cruise missiles represent a threat that the United States and its allies must take seriously, “Pyongyang is likely exaggerating when it claims it has already armed such missiles with nuclear warheads.”
“The Kim regime wants to show it can match or surpass military capabilities on display during U.S.-South Korea defence exercises,” he said. “Yet the reality is North Korean soldiers are poorly fed and are being ordered to help farmers address the country’s food shortage.”
Global concerns Vs. North Korea
Concerns over North Korea’s chronic food shortages have grown in recent months, with officials in Seoul announcing recently that deaths from starvation are believed to be occurring in some parts of the country.
The nuclear-armed North said the “underwater launching drill” had “confirmed the reliability” of the weapons, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a report, calling the submarine-launched missiles part of its “nuclear deterrent.” It said the two strategic cruise missiles “precisely hit” preset targets in the Sea of Japan after travelling for 1,500 kilometres along figure eight-shaped flight paths for more than two hours.
Such a distance would put virtually all of Japan including key U.S. military bases within striking distance.
Experts say cruise missiles present a unique danger in that they can fly low and manoeuvre, making them potentially very difficult to intercept by air and missile defences. Unlike ballistic weapons, cruise missiles are not banned under United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang.
Ahead of the North Korean announcement, the South Korean military said that it had detected an unspecified missile launched from a submarine in waters off the North’s eastern coastal city of Sinpo on Sunday morning, the Yonhap news agency reported. The military did not immediately provide other details.
“While strengthening its monitoring and vigilance, our military is maintaining a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States,” the South Korean military said in a statement.
The launch came hours before South Korea and the United States kicked off the Freedom Shield joint military exercises on Monday. The exercises are scheduled to run through March 23. Pyongyang views joint drills between the two allies as a rehearsal for invasion, but Seoul and Washington call them defensive in nature.
In a separate statement carried by KCNA, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry criticised the drills and slammed the United States over plans to hold an informal meeting later this week on North Korea’s human rights record. North Korea’s people are ready “‘to mercilessly punish the U.S. imperialists totally denying the sovereignty of our state and its socialist system and thus make them pay dearly without fail,” the statement said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a military drill that fired off “a powerful volley” of six missiles simulating a strike on enemy airports. Kim has ordered his forces to intensify “various simulated drills for real war in a diverse way in different situations.” Sunday’s submarine-launched missile exercises were the latest signal that the North has moved from testing its powerful weapons to conducting drills that demonstrate the country could take “actual action rather than words.”
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said that while the submarine-launched cruise missiles represent a threat that the United States and its allies must take seriously, “Pyongyang is likely exaggerating when it claims it has already armed such missiles with nuclear warheads.”
The unquestioned regime of Kim
“The Kim regime wants to show it can match or surpass military capabilities on display during U.S.-South Korea defence exercises,” he said. “Yet the reality is North Korean soldiers are poorly fed and are being ordered to help farmers address the country’s food shortage.”
Concerns over North Korea’s chronic food shortages have grown in recent months, with officials in Seoul announcing recently that deaths from starvation are believed to be occurring in some parts of the country.
The latest launches come ahead of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s inaugural trip to Tokyo for a meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida from Thursday and his state visit to Washington for talks with U.S. President Joe Biden on April 26.
