North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects a ship engine factory at Ryongchon County in North Pyongan Province, in this photo released on Sunday. Yonhap

Pyongyang claims to have conducted 'tactical nuclear attack' drill with cruise missiles

By Jung Min-ho

While reporting on its latest drill for a "tactical nuclear attack," Sunday, Pyongyang released photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspecting a ship engine factory.

The facility, situated on its west coast near the border with China, assumes an "irreplaceable responsibility for strengthening naval forces," Kim said while presenting his policy direction for "opening a new era" in marine engineering.

Analysts told The Korea Times that this move, consistent with his recent messages highlighting the importance of naval power, suggests the trajectory of the North's long-term nuclear weapons strategy, namely building a submarine equipped with submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) or a nuclear-capable submarine.

"After developing and deploying strategic missiles on land, North Korea has been quite clear about its next goal of advancing naval forces as part of its nuclear operations strategy," said Kim Yeoul-soo, an analyst at the Korea Institute for Military Affairs, a think tank.

"While the North has large, trained ground forces, the gap in air power with South Korea is impossibly wide. But with nuclear weapons, it obviously views its navy could be a great threat to the South Korean and U.S. militaries."

On Aug. 27, a day before North Korea's Navy Day, Kim visited his navy command, where he emphasized its role in countering "enemies' aggressive attempts," in an apparent reference to the joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises that ended on Thursday. The previous week, he oversaw a cruise missile test from a warship.

All this could be a sign that North Korea may be about to unveil its new 3,000-ton submarine capable of carrying three SLBMs, a project it has been working on for the past several years, the analyst noted. A nuclear-capable submarine was one of the high-tech weapons the regime vowed to develop, along with a military reconnaissance satellite and a solid-fuel ICBM.

This photo released Sunday shows a cruise missile in flight during a "tactical nuclear attack" drill the previous day in North Korea. Yonhap

After its latest provocation, the North's official Korean Central News Agency claimed that its two long-range cruise missiles "tipped with mock atomic warheads" hit their targets precisely.

"A firing drill for simulated tactical nuclear attack was conducted at dawn of September 2 to warn the enemies of the actual nuclear war danger," it reported. "The nuclear force of the DPRK will bolster up its responsible combat counteraction posture in every way to deter war and preserve peace and stability." DPRK is an acronym of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea.

In a message to reporters, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff dismissed the claim, saying the test was only a partial success, according to its analysis.

The results may have been overstated. But North Korea's nuclear capabilities appear to be growing, another military analyst said.

"Ultimately, North Korea wants warships and submarines capable of firing nuclear missiles ― both cruise and ballistic types," the analyst said on condition of anonymity.

"That objective, in the long run, isn't impossible. North Korea has already passed the most challenging stages of acquiring nuclear power. North Korea may not have nuclear-capable ships or submarines now, but it is clearly on the track to getting them in the future."