Drum, fever-style water level control… Biden’s’Rocky’ strategy

On the night of the 14th, a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) with the phrase’North Pole-5ㅅ’ appeared at the Labor Party’s 8th Congress held at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea. The SLBM unveiled this time is believed to be a new missile with a higher warhead than the’North Pole-4S’ released in October last year. [AP=뉴시스]

The finale of the 8th Congress of the North Korean Labor Party was a feverish ceremony. At the Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang on the evening of the 14th, a row byung-sik was a place to show off the strongest national defense power with the nuclear deterrent emphasized by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. It is analyzed that internally, while strengthening the people’s unity power, it tried to convey the message that it possesses powerful weapons, including nuclear force, to the outside world.

The perspective of the fever was also subtle. This is because the inauguration ceremony of the US President-elect Joe Biden on the 20th is about to be held. As such, it was evaluated by North Korean experts, “If you carefully look at this fever, you will be able to detect Chairman Kim’s message to the newly launched Biden administration.”

There are two main reasons. First, this event is the first ever fervor in commemorating the Party Congress. The second is that the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which appeared normally, did not appear in the fever ceremony on this day. Instead, Chairman Kim introduced a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

The extraordinary holding of a feverish ceremony immediately after the party conference is interpreted as an intention to remind Biden-elect once again that North Korea possesses strong military power. It is analyzed that a warning was sent to the Biden administration, which will plan a new strategy toward North Korea over the issue of denuclearization, that North Korea’s military power should always be considered.

Chairman Kim Jong-un (center) is wearing a woolen hat and is watching a fever byeongsik on the 14th. [AP=뉴시스]

Meanwhile, the introduction of SLBM instead of ICBM, which can hit the US mainland, can be seen as an attempt by Chairman Kim to adjust the level of such warnings. It is known that North Korea has only diesel submarines with a short operating range and has not technically completed SLBM to date. As such, it is a common diagnosis among experts that it is impossible to directly hit the US mainland with the SLBM that North Korea released on that day. Therefore, it is evaluated that the fact that the SLBM was unveiled on this day was that Chairman Kim used a kind of low-key strategy, and that the future negotiations with the Biden administration were in mind.

The new SLBM’North Pole-5ㅅ’, which was introduced on this day, is analyzed as an improved version of’North Pole-4ㅅ’, which appeared at the parade ceremony in commemorating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Labor Party last October. As Chairman Kim said in a report on the party conference’s business summary on the 5th and 7th, “the task of possessing nuclear submarines and nuclear strategic weapons launched under water, which are of great significance in improving nuclear long-range strike capability, has been proposed.” It is counted as one of the two weapons. Ryu Seong-yeop, a research fellow at the 21st Century Military Research Institute, analyzed that the warhead of the North Star-5S is up to 1m longer than that of the North Star-4S in the photo. As a result, there is also a possibility that multiple warheads will be mounted on the warhead with a wider space.

In this regard, Lee Chun-geun, an honorary senior research fellow at the Institute of Science and Technology Policy, diagnosed that “North Korea is developing two types of SLBM at the same time, and these missiles seem to have different uses.” Commissioner Lee said, “There are reports that North Korea is building a submarine with a hull of 4000t or higher, apart from a submarine that has improved the existing Romeo-class submarine.” I can do it.”

Reporters Choi Ik-jae and Lee Chul-jae [email protected]