North Korea claims to have carried out this test, as yet unconfirmed, in retaliation after the organization of naval exercises led by South Korea and its allies.
North Korea announced Friday that it had tested a nuclear-capable underwater attack drone in response to a joint naval exercise conducted by South Korea, the United States and Japan this week.
The test of the drone, allegedly designed to destroy warships and ports, came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un abandoned his country’s long-held goal of peaceful reunification with the South Korea and that his country was rewriting its constitution to define it.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have reached their highest level in years, with Kim accelerating his weapons tests and threatening nuclear conflict. The United States and its Asian allies responded by stepping up their combined military exercises.
The underwater drone that North Korea said it tested is part of a wide range of weapons systems demonstrated in recent years as the dictator expands his arsenal of nuclear-capable weapons.
