North Korea yesterday ramped up its nuclear threats, boasting of its ability to deliver miniaturized warheads on high-precision long-range rockets, in a clear warning to the US.
At the same time, it denounced “reckless” remarks made in Seoul this week by US Secretary of State John Kerry and canceled an invitation to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit a joint industrial zone on its side of the border with South Korea.
Pyongyang has been flexing its advancing military muscle of late, most recently announcing that it had successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).
North Korea’s National Defense Commission yesterday claimed that the country’s nuclear arsenal was already highly developed.
“It has been a long time since we began miniaturizing and diversifying our means of nuclear strike,” the commission said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.
“We have also reached the stage where the highest accuracy rate is guaranteed, not only for short and medium-range missiles, but long-range missiles as well,” it said.
Reducing the size of a nuclear warhead to the point where it can fit on a missile would be a major leap forward in establishing a genuine deterrent, and Pyongyang has claimed progress with miniaturization before.
In January, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense said it believed the North’s ability to miniaturize a nuclear device had reached a “significant” level. The top US homeland security commander, Admiral William Gortney, said last month the North was already capable of mounting a warhead on a missile.
However, other senior officials in both countries have questioned such assessments, and independent analysts yesterday stressed that the North’s claims were often overblown.
“There are differences between their statements and their actual operational reality,” said Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based senior researcher of the International Crisis Group.
“Some of it is bluster or exaggeration and maybe for internal audiences, and some of it is probably also for external audiences in an effort to test and to see if they can use systems for blackmail or coercion,” he said.
Cho Han-bum, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said Pyongyang was “too cash-strapped” to perfect such intricate technology as miniaturizing a warhead.
“I find the claim hard to believe,” he said.
Experts have voiced similar doubts over the recent SLBM test, suggesting it was probably not submarine-launched at all, but likely fired from a submerged barge.
And it was probably an “ejection test” in which the missile is launched underwater, breaks the surface and then falls back after a few seconds of partial fuel burn.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source