2024-01-19 05:02:00
(CNN) — North Korea said Friday it tested an undersea nuclear weapons system in response to naval exercises held by the United States, South Korea and Japan in waters off the peninsula’s southern tip this week, according to state media.
The trilateral naval exercises, involving the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, the Japanese helicopter carrier JS Hyūga, as well as guided missile-equipped surface ships of the three partners, were held to “advance deterrence and response capabilities.” North Korea’s nuclear, missile and submarine threats,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
A statement from the US Navy’s 7th Fleet said the exercises near Jeju Island demonstrated the “commitment of all three navies to bolster regional security and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”
Pyongyang called the drills an “act that seriously threatens the security” of North Korea and said it further destabilizes the situation in the region, according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
South Korea, the US and Japan conduct a trilateral exercise with the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson south of Jeju Island between January 15 and 17, 2024. (Credit: South Korean Ministry of Defense)
“The United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea are becoming unrestrained in their provocative military exercises,” the KCNA report said.
North Korea said it conducted a new test of its nuclear-capable underwater drone, the Haeil. Following tests of the Haeil system last year, North Korean state media claimed it might carry a nuclear warhead capable of creating a “radioactive tsunami”, although analysts said Pyongyang offered no evidence for the claim.
Friday’s KCNA statement also offered no evidence, but in it North Korea warned the United States, South Korea and Japan of the “catastrophic consequences” of their actions.
“(North Korea’s) armed forces will strike horror into your hearts through the responsible, rapid and bold exercise of its deterrent force,” the statement said.
Rising tensions between North Korea and its southern neighbor
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula, already high, have been rising since late December, when KCNA reported that leader Kim Jong Un had issued instructions to the military, munitions industry, nuclear weapons and defense sectors civil society to accelerate war preparations in response to the “confrontational movements” of the United States.
Kim said North Korea will no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with South Korea, a stance he reiterated earlier this week by telling the country’s Supreme People’s Assembly that a massive monument to the possible reunification of the Korean Peninsula that his father built in Pyongyang must be destroyed. Kim called it a “monstrosity,” according to KCNA.
North and South Korea have been separated since the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice. The two sides are still technically at war, but both governments have long pursued the goal of one day reunifying.
Relations have waxed and waned over the decades, but tensions have remained especially high in recent years following Kim stepped up the country’s nuclear weapons program in defiance of international sanctions.
South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Kim Myung-soo inspects aircraft on the USS Carl Vinson on January 15, 2024. (Credit: South Korean Defense Ministry)
In the past month, North Korea has stepped up its military activities, launching hundreds of artillery shells into waters near the disputed North-South border and testing a ballistic missile with a hypersonic glide vehicle.
Meanwhile, Kim on Monday called the South the “main and unchanging enemy of the North.”
Analysts say everything points to an even more intractable North Korea.
“If North Korean artillery fire near the inter-Korean maritime border was part of routine training it would be less worrying. But the Kim regime was also stating that it will not be outdone in shows of force,” said Leif-Eric Easley, professor at Ehwa University in Seoul.
“Pyongyang is going much further by rejecting dialogue, dismantling organizations for inter-Korean exchanges and defining Seoul as an adversary,” he said.
“This appears to be an ideological adjustment for regime survival,” justifying Kim’s approach to nuclear weapons, Easley said.
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