North Korea’s rulers Kim Jong Un According to state media, visited a production facility for nuclear-powered submarines and monitored the test launch of “new” anti-aircraft missiles. During his visit to the facility, Kim criticized South Korea’s recent efforts to develop its own nuclear-powered submarines together with the United States, the North Korean state news agency KCNA reported on Thursday. Kim therefore spoke of a “threat that must be addressed”.
According to the agency, Kim visited the factory on Wednesday and also commented on the current “negative security situation.” It makes it an “urgent task and indispensable option” to advance the “nuclear armament of the naval forces” more quickly.
According to KCNA, Kim also found out about “new secret underwater weapons.” He also laid out “a strategic plan to restructure the naval forces and establish new units,” KCNA reported. Kim also inspected the construction of an 8,700-ton nuclear-powered submarine that could also fire surface-to-air missiles.
“Dummy targets at an altitude of 200 kilometers”
Kim also oversaw the testing of “new high-flying” long-range anti-aircraft missiles over the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan. The missiles hit “the dummy targets precisely” at an altitude of 200 kilometers. If the KCNA information is correct, this altitude would be in space.
In another statement, North Korean state media described the recent entry of a US nuclear submarine into a South Korean port as an act of escalation of military tensions. The Submarine USS Greeneville According to the South Korean Navy, it arrived at the port of Busan on Tuesday.
US President Donald Trump had this during his trip to Asia Construction of a nuclear submarine by ally South Korea agreed. “I gave them permission to build a nuclear-powered submarine instead of the old-fashioned (…) diesel-powered submarines they currently have,” Trump wrote on his online service Truth Social at the end of October. The announcement caused outrage among the government in Pyongyang.
North Korea According to experts, it itself has dozens of nuclear warheads and has repeatedly confirmed in the past that it will keep them despite international sanctions. The largely isolated country argues that it needs nuclear weapons to deter an alleged military threat from the United States and its allied states.
In August, North Korea’s ruler had the Expansion of the country’s nuclear weapons program announced. According to Kim, this announcement was in response to a joint military exercise between US forces and the South Korean army. The exercises take place every year in August or September.
