North Korea fired off four anti-ship cruise missiles from its east coast Thursday.
The North has been testing the equipment it flaunted during a military parade in April. The new anti-ship cruise missiles displayed during the parade had yet to make an appearance on the testing ground. South Korean military analysts theorize that North Korea, in addition to testing its new technology, may have also been responding to recent U.S. carrier drills.
“We assess that North Korea intended to show off its various missile capabilities, display its precise targeting capability, in the form of armed protests against ships in regard to US Navy carrier strike groups and joint naval drills,” Roh Jae-cheon, the spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staffs, said after the latest test, according to CNN.
Towards the end of last month, the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Ronald Reagan, two Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, began drilling in the East Sea/Sea of Japan. North Korea has repeatedly expressed strong opposition to the U.S. deployment of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers to the region. North Korea has threatened to sink U.S. naval assets on more than one occasion
“Our revolutionary forces are combat-ready to sink a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike,” the Rodong Sinmun, the paper of the ruling party, wrote in late April.
The latest carrier drills had just concluded as North Korea tested its anti-ship weaponry. “We believe North Korea has demonstrated its anti-denial deterrence capabilities in response to the joint military exercise in the East Sea,” Roh explained, suggesting the North is developing anti-access/area-denial capabilities, a tactic China has been employing against the U.S. Navy.
“If the U.S. were to pre-emptively strike North Korea, it would use aircraft and vessels,” Yang Uk, a senior researcher at the Korea Security and Defense Forum, told The New York Times. “In these last series of tests, North Korea is showing they can deter those strikes.” The North recently successfully tested its upgraded KN-06 surface-to-air missile.
North Korea has tested 16 missiles this year, and the reclusive regime has been testing a variety of new weapons systems, such as the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile, Pukguksong-2 medium-range ballistic missile, and a new Scud variant. The first two may be the technological predecessors to eventual liquid and solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the third appears to be a test of maneuverable re-entry technology for the evasion of defenses.
“By testing different types of missiles,” Roh told reporters, “North Korea also appears to be aiming to secure the upper hand in relations with South Korea and the United States.”
The weapon tested Thursday, according to expert observers, is likely North Korea’s version of the Russian Kh-35 system. The system was presented in the military parade in April. North Korea has yet to release pictures, video, and specific details on the weapons involved in the latest test.
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