The North Korean regime tested a new weapon that reinforces its nuclear capability

North Korea tested a new type of guided tactical weapon designed to increase its nuclear combat capability, state media reported Sunday, the day before its main rivals, the United States and South Korea, begin annual military exercises that the North considers an invasion test.

The test, Pyongyang's 13th round of weapons launches this year, came amid concerns that North Korea may soon carry out a larger provocation such as a nuclear test in an effort to expand the country's arms arsenal and increase pressure on Washington and Seoul amid diplomacy stagnant.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said leader Kim Jong watched what he called the gun's successful launch. He posted a photo showing a radiant Kim applauding with military officers.

KCNA said the tested weapon is “of great importance for dramatically improving the firepower of front-line long-range artillery units, improving efficiency in the operation of (North Korean) tactical nuclear weapons and diversifying their firepower missions.”

KCNA did not elaborate, but the use of the words “tactical nuclear weapons” suggested that the weapon is likely to be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead on the battlefield that could achieve strategic objectives in South Korea, including US military installations. The KCNA dispatch did not say when and where the launch occurred.

“North Korea is trying to deploy not only long-range nuclear missiles targeting US cities, but also tactical nuclear weapons to threaten Seoul and US bases in Asia,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “Pyongyang's purposes are likely to exceed the regime's deterrence and survival. Just as Russia employs the fear that it may use tactical nuclear weapons, North Korea may want such weapons for political coercion, escalation on the battlefield, and limit the willingness of other countries to intervene in a conflict.”

Some observers said that the weapon shown in North Korean photos suggested that it could be a smaller and lighter version of its nuclear-capable KN-23 missile that has a highly maneuverable flight aimed at defeating missile defense systems. Others said it could be a new missile that combines the technical characteristics of the KN-23 and another short-range ballistic missile called KN-24.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement on Sunday that it had detected two missile launches from the eastern coastal city of Hamhung in the east of the North on Saturday night.

He said that the shells flew about 110 kilometers (68 miles) at an apogee of 25 kilometers (16 miles) and at a maximum speed of Mach 4. South Korea's presidential office said officials have met twice this weekend to discuss North Korea's military activities.

The South Korean military later said Sunday that its nine-day spring military exercises with the United States will begin on Monday. He said that the allies decided to conduct computer-simulated command post exercises that do not involve field training after reviewing factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and combined defense readiness of the allies.

The exercises could further intensify animosities on the Korean peninsula because North Korea has previously responded with its own weapons tests and fiery rhetoric.

North Korea has started this year with a series of weapons tests, including its first flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States homeland since 2017. South Korean and US officials said Pyongyang could soon launch additional provocations such as another ICBM test, a rocket launch to put a spy satellite into orbit, or even a nuclear test explosion that would be the seventh of its kind. The South Korean military said it has detected signs that North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground that it partially dismantled weeks before entering now-inactive nuclear talks with the United States in 2018.

A possible nuclear test by North Korea would involve a tactical nuclear warhead, analyst Cheong Seong-Chang said at the Sejong Private Institute in South Korea. He predicted that North Korea would push to mount a tactical nuclear warhead on the tested weapon this weekend and deploy such nuclear missiles near the South Korean border.

Sunday's KCNA dispatch quoted Kim presenting unspecified tasks to build North Korea's nuclear combat forces after praising what it called successive advances in its efforts to strengthen the country's war-deterrent power. The recent North test activity involved the sophisticated weapon systems that Kim has promised to introduce to deal with what he calls American hostility.

“North Korea has an internal imperative to manufacture and perfect the weapons ordered by Kim Jong Un last year, regardless of what the United States does or does not do. The test also tells its people that their country is strong despite its apparent economic difficulties,” said Duyeon Kim, senior analyst at the Center for a New American Security in Washington. “One reason for the political moment could be to protest the anticipated military exercises between the United States and South Korea.”

On Friday, Kim attended a massive civil parade in Pyongyang that marked the landmark of the 110th anniversary of the birth of her state-founding grandfather, Kim Il Sung. It seemed that the country spent its most important national holiday without a long-awaited military parade to show off its new weapon systems.

Kim can still hold a military parade on the anniversary of the founding of the North Korean army on April 25. But if that anniversary happens again without a military parade, some experts say that could mean that Kim has no powerful new missiles to show and that his next provocative step will likely be a nuclear test.

(with information from AP)

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