North Korea's underwater bombing test link 'strengthened' in South China Sea conflict

At the time of clashes between the U.S. Navy and China on the 24th in a disputed area in the South China Sea, North Korea strengthened their interconnectedness by releasing photos of an underwater explosion claiming that North Korea had tested a nuclear-equipped underwater drone designed to create a “radioactive tsunami” to destroy ports in the East Sea.
The U.S. Navy deployed the destroyer on Thursday in a "freedom of navigation operation" that defied the requirements of all three countries for prior notice or permission before warships could sail near islands occupied by China but claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam. sailed
China said on Monday that the US Navy threatened "serious consequences" after two consecutive days of sailing a destroyer around the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, a "violation of China's sovereignty and security."
The South China Sea clash comes amid rising tensions between China and the United States in the region. The US military denied it.
“Illegal and outright maritime claims in the South China Sea are a violation of freedom of navigation and overflight, free trade and unhindered commerce, and economic opportunities for coastal states in the South China Sea,” U.S. 7th Fleet Spokesman Lt. It poses a serious threat to freedom of the seas, including freedoms."
The new weapon, which can be deployed from shore or towed by a surface ship, "covertly infiltrates the operational waters and releases a super-large radioactive tsunami through an underwater explosion to destroy enemy naval strike groups and ports," KCNA said on the 24th. It was created to "raise".
Responding to North Korea's announcement, the Associated Press said, "South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol, while attending a memorial service honoring the 55 South Korean soldiers killed in major clashes with North Korea near the West Sea border over the past few years, called on North Korea to pay the price for its 'reckless provocation'." "The so-called 'nuclear underwater attack drone' test was part of a three-day exercise on the 22nd that simulated a nuclear strike against an unspecified South Korean target, including launching a cruise missile," he said.
The Associated Press continued, “This week’s test came as it became known that the United States plans to deploy an aircraft carrier strike force and other high-tech assets off the coast of the Korean Peninsula. Military tensions are at their peak as the pace of North Korea’s weapons tests and South Korea-US joint military exercises accelerated last year into a tit-for-tat response cycle,” he said. We have completed 11-day training, including training, and are preparing for another joint naval exercise that is known to involve US aircraft carriers.”
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the drone was deployed off the eastern coast of North Korea on Tuesday, traveled underwater for nearly 60 hours, and detonated a test warhead at a target pointed at an enemy port. It has been in development since 2010 and has been tested more than 50 times, it said.
The AP said, "The name of the North Korean drone is 'Haeil' in Korean, which means tsunami or tsunami. North Korea's Rodong Sinmun published a photo of Kim smiling next to a large torpedo-shaped object in an unspecified indoor facility, but did not disclose his identity." “Other photos published alongside the same article revealed an underwater trajectory of the drone and a sea-level track believed to be caused by a plume of water exploding into the air, which state media believed would have been caused by an underwater detonation of a simulated nuclear weapon carried by the drone. There is a possibility,” he said.
China reiterated that it had driven an American ship off an island in the South China Sea hundreds of kilometers off the coast of Vietnam and China's Hainan province, following a statement on Monday about the US Navy destroyer incident.
A spokesman for the U.S. Navy, Bakik, told The Associated Press that the ship "was not ejected" after completing its mission near the Paracel Islands and "continued to conduct routine maritime security operations in international waters."
“The United States does not claim sovereignty over the South China Sea, but for decades it has deployed naval and air force assets to patrol the strategic waterway through which approximately $5 trillion of global trade passes each year and which holds invaluable marine and subsea mineral resources,” the Associated Press said. “A United Nations-backed arbitration tribunal ruled in 2016 that China’s historic claims to the waters had no legal basis under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and Washington held that freedom of navigation and overflight over waterways were in the national interest of the United States.” “The US military has now been stationed in the South China Sea for more than 100 years, conducting daily operations, and China regularly responds angrily, accusing the US of meddling in Asian affairs and violating its sovereignty.”
"The actions of the US military seriously infringe on China's sovereignty and security and seriously violate international law," said Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "We solemnly ask the United States to do so. If such provocative actions are not immediately stopped, they will have serious consequences of unpredictable events, and we will take all necessary measures to ensure China's security."
“The operational concept of the North Korean weapon is similar to that of the Russian Poseidon nuclear torpedo, which is being developed as a new category of retaliatory weapon to unleash devastating radioactive blasts in coastal areas,” said Ankit Panda, senior research fellow at the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace. It plans to send a signal to the United States and South Korea that the potential vectors of nuclear weapons delivery that allies will need to worry about and target in a war will be vast, from silos to railroad cars, submarines and road-mobile missile launchers, and the addition of these underwater torpedoes. I'm doing it," he told Reuters.
Reuters reported, “A US official who requested anonymity said there was no indication of a nuclear test. day reported.
On the 23rd, Senator James Risch, Republican secretary of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, “The Biden administration will deny North Korea’s goals and expand nuclear plans and operational mechanisms within the alliance to strengthen extended nuclear deterrence, as well as redeploy US nuclear weapons to South Korea. It should also be considered,” he told Voice of America (VOA).
On the 19th, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) missile launched from a silo.

"He continues to seek greater accuracy and lethality with his missile forces," US Defense Director General Scott Barrier told reporters at DIA headquarters. Conventional ground forces "have shrunk over time. I think North Korea is much more dangerous than they used to be," he said.

About the North Korean nuclear test. "There are a number of factors that influence the decision calculation for that. There are a lot of things that we look at from a symptom and warning standpoint. The two didn't match," he said. "I don't think he would." revealed

Director Barrier said earlier that Chairman Kim could have timed the nuclear test to coincide with the Freedom Shield exercise, which is being conducted by the US and South Korean forces.

In his speech commemorating the 12th anniversary of the Cheonan incident, President Yoon delivered a speech on the 24th, omitting the “Cheonan attack” itself, which was included in the pre-distribution manuscript of the speech.
In his speech, President Yoon said, "Our Navy and Marines defended the NLL and our territory with blood from numerous armed provocations by North Korea, such as the Battle of Yeonpyeong, Battle of Daecheong, and shelling of Yeonpyeong Island," and ruled out the incident that day, the Cheonan's attack. -By Kim Jong-chan, political economy reporter