Let’s report by foreign media, the joint venture was released late
Intention to wander about Korea and the United States with low-intensity provocation
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It is known that North Korea launched two short-range cruise missiles on the west coast on the 21st. Our military captured the launch situation in real time, but did not disclose it for three days, and then released it after foreign media reports.
The Washington Post (WP) quoted multiple sources on the 23rd (local time) and reported that North Korea test-fired several missiles over the weekend. The WP assessed the test launch as North Korea’s first direct challenge to the US administration by Joe Biden. An official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff met with reporters on the morning of the 24th (Korean time) after foreign media reports, and explained, “In the morning of the 21st, we captured (in real time) that two presumed cruise missiles were launched in the area of Oncheon County, Pyeongannam-do, in the West Sea area.” Regarding the exact launch time, Congressman Ha Tae-kyung, secretary of the National Assembly Information Committee, revealed through his Facebook account that it was “at 6:36 am on Sunday”.
North Korea launched a cruise missile this time 11 months after launching an estimated KN-19 missile in Muncheon, Gangwon-do on April 14 last year. This can be interpreted as the dimension of demonstrating the ability of North Korea to develop missiles with low intensity while reflecting on the missile detection capabilities of the ROK and US military authorities. It is also interpreted that while the Biden administration is fully reviewing its policy toward North Korea, it is trying to put pressure on the South and the United States through low-intensity armed demonstrations without stimulating the United States excessively. It may have been a multipurpose card aimed at the effect of uniting the North Korean internal system.
The ROK-US government has determined that the test launch of the cruise missile is not in violation of the resolution of the UN Security Council. US President Joe Biden met with reporters on the 23rd and said, “We learned that (North Korea) has not changed much,” he said in a calm response.
As for the background that our military captured this in real time and did not announce it immediately, the joint venture explained that the ROK-US had agreed not to disclose information. There are also some speculations that this may have been in order not to get involved in North Korea’s attention-grabbing provocation tactics or to expose our ability to detect air defense against North Korea. Korea, the United States and Japan are likely to hold a meeting of the heads of the security office next week as soon as possible.
The financial resources such as the weight and range of the North Korean cruise missile launched this time have not been identified. An official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, “We are analyzing financial resources.” Another high-ranking military source diagnosed, “It is presumed that this test launch was done with the aim of developing a new missile.” The possibility of the missile being an improved or a successor to the KN-19 (Kumseong-3 type in North Korea), which North Korea disclosed through the report by the Korean Central News Agency in 2015, cannot be excluded. North Korea has been promoting the KN-19 as a surface-to-ship missile with a range of 200 km. If this missile is the successor to the KN-19 or an improved version, it is estimated that the range and precision have improved. In addition, there is a possibility that a low detectability design has been applied to avoid detection and interception by the Korean military, or the ability to perform evasive maneuvers has been supplemented. In that case, our military may have difficulty detecting it with radar or the like.
/ Reporter Min Byeong-kwon [email protected]
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