'Combat effectiveness verified … mandatory activity to advance technology'

A TV screen at Seoul Station shows news coverage after the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that North Korea had fired an unidentified projectile into the Donghae on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
A TV screen at Seoul Station shows news coverage after the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that North Korea had fired an unidentified projectile into the Donghae on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

North Korea has conducted a test launch of a new high-speed torpedo in the Donghae and announced plans to deploy it with the navy in early next year.

KCNA reported Tuesday that defense science research institutions jointly conducted a test launch of the new torpedo in the Donghae on Monday.

The state news agency said the Academy of Defense Science, the Missile General Bureau and the Torpedo Weapons Research Institute verified the "combat effectiveness" of the new high-speed torpedo weapons system during the test. It added that the system is set to be deployed with the navy from early next year.

North Korea has been visibly accelerating the development and upgrading of its underwater weapons systems. The country had already test-fired the "Jam-2.0," described as a "new ultra-high-speed precision-guided torpedo weapons system," on Oct. 17, as part of a broader push to modernize its underwater capabilities. The moves align with Korean Workers' Party General Secretary Kim Jong-un's drive to bolster naval power and offset conventional military inferiority.

Meanwhile, KCNA said the test was a routine activity by defense science research institutions to advance the weapons system's technology, and insisted it did not constitute a "military provocation."


sunpine@heraldcorp.com