New tactical weapon tests as N Korea ‘modernises’

NORTH Korea’s claim last week that it had tested an unidentified “ultramodern tactical weapon” highlighted its desire to upgrade its conventional arms and reassure its military even as talks are under way to end its nuclear programme, analysts said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un witnessed the test of a new weapon that could serve as a “steel wall”, state media reported on Friday, without giving details of the weapon.

It was Kim’s first observation of a weapons test this year and could complicate already-stalled nuclear talks with the US, although Washington and Seoul downplayed the development in an apparent effort not to derail negotiations.

Experts say the test was part of Kim’s initiative to shift the mainstay of the conventional military power to hi-tech weapons.

“This is sort of like the North Korean version of military reform,” said Choi Kang, vice-president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. “If we have to find an underlying message to the outside world, it’s ‘Don’t underestimate us, we are modernising too.’”

Advanced weapons might be even more crucial if the country were to abandon some of its nuclear arsenal.

Although Pyongyang is easily outspent in defence funding by Seoul and Washington, the North’s forward-deployed troops, guns and multiple-launch artillery rocket systems (MLRS) pose a significant threat to the allies. The North Korean military has nearly 5500 MLRS, 4300 tanks, 2500 armoured vehicles, 810 fighter jets, 430 combatant vessels and 70 submarines, according to a 2016 assessment by the South’s defence ministry.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies said last week that it had identified at least 13 undeclared missile bases in North Korea. The think tank has also said Pyongyang had been developing hovercraft units for its 200 000-strong special forces as part of the modernisation drive.