With the firing of projectiles carrying simulated nuclear bombs from several rocket launcher units on Monday, North Korea claims to have tested a new nuclear weapons command-and-control system.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the exercise, which simulated a nuclear counterattack, in response to what it described as “extremely provocative and aggressive” yearly joint air force exercises between the United States and South Korea.
North Korea has tested both the rocket launcher system and a simulated nuclear counterstrike before, according to analysts, but KCNA said Monday’s exercise was the first time the “Haekbangashoe” – or nuclear trigger – command-and-control system was used, demonstrating what it claimed was an ability to switch rocket launchers from conventional to nuclear weapons. They are thinking about command and control. These are the practical questions about how an order should be transmitted from Kim, down the chain of command, and to launch units,” said Jeffrey Lewis, an analyst at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
Joseph Dempsey, research associate for defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the nuclear counterstrike drill showed “a desire to portray wider credibility and capability in nuclear forces proficiency and posture beyond simply demonstrating just missile delivery systems.”“How mature this command-and-control system already is, or will become, remains very difficult to assess,” Dempsey added.
Since conducting its first nuclear test more than a decade ago, North Korea has advanced its weapons capabilities, with the ambition of miniaturizing a warhead so that it can fit on a long-range missile. Kim ramped up those efforts in 2022, vowing to develop nuclear arms at the “highest possible” speed, passing a new law that declared North Korea a nuclear weapons state, and saying there could be no negotiations on denuclearization.
Though the regime’s true capabilities have not been independently verified, a 2017 report from the US Defense Intelligence Agency concluded North Korea had likely achieved its key goal of miniaturization. Experts say North Korea has likely already manufactured a small stockpile of nuclear warheads – but it remains unproven whether it has been able to make them small and light enough to be fitted on a missile.
Images supplied by North Korea Monday showed four rockets being launched, with KCNA saying they hit targets on an island 352 kilometers (218 miles) away.
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