North Korea claims test of Russia-style unmanned underwater nuke -
The weapon is named “Haeil” —“tsunami” in Korean — according to state media reports, and the test was observed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un between March 21 and March 23.
Potentially, Haeil raises the threat posed by Mr. Kim’s regime — combining conventional, nuclear, asymmetric and underwater capabilities — to a new high. As for harbors, “waves generated by an underwater detonation can cause damage in harbors or near the shoreline. … The waves will increase in height as they move into shallower water, and inundation, similar to that observed with tidal waves can occur,”The Haeil appears analogous to a Russia-pioneered weapon class being deployed to overcome U.S. ballistic missile defenses.
“These can be deployed, and can loiter, so the launch-to-detonation time can be extended, unlike a torpedo,” said Mr. Neill. “But with an automated system: How do you exercise nuclear command and control over a long period of time?”Links between North Korean arms developers and their Russian and Chinese counterparts are opaque.
“Russia is quite vulnerable to cyber attacks and has a huge underground economy, so North Korean hackers could take advantage,” said Go Myong-hyun, a North Korean watcher at Seoul’s Asan Institute. “The second scenario is there could be collaborators in the Russian state.”
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