North Korea says it tested underwater nuclear-capable drone in response to rivals’ naval drills

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said it carried out the latest test of its shadowy unmanned, underwater drone capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, thought to be based on a Russian design, a few days after U.S., South Korean and Japanese naval forces conducted drills.

Pyongyang offered no details of the test on the Haeil (Tsunami) weapon, and the South Korean Joint Chiefs provided no comment. No radiation alerts were issued, and neither Japan nor South Korea reported unusual sea conditions.

The announced test indicates an acceleration in the tit-for-tat cycle. Japanese, South Korean and U.S. naval forces, incorporating the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, held joint drills from Monday through Wednesday last week.

In addition to the hypersonic missile test, North Korea sent a message Sunday with a Foreign Ministry statement saying Russian President Vladimir Putin had confirmed plans to visit Pyongyang.

The Biden administration has watched with growing alarm as the Kremlin reaches out to the isolated regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Washington has accused the North of helping rearm Russia’s depleted forces in Ukraine.

Russia, in turn, offers North Korea an economic lifeline and access to sophisticated military technology, such as the new unmanned underwater weapon, as Mr. Kim’s regime ramps up tensions with the U.S. and South Korea.

Mr. Kim made a rare foray outside North Korea this fall to meet with Mr. Putin in Russia’s Far East. On Wednesday, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui finished a three-day visit to Moscow that included meetings with Mr. Putin and other top Russian officials.

“Comrade President Putin expressed deep thanks once again for the invitation of Comrade Kim Jong-un, President of the State Affairs, to visit Pyongyang at a convenient time and expressed his willingness to visit [North Korea] at an early date,” said a North Korean Foreign Ministry statement released Sunday morning by KCNA, the North’s official news agency.

North Korea’s state media said Friday that the Haeil test was a response to the naval drills by the U.S. and its allies.

Experts say North Korea is well-positioned to increase the intensity of its provocations in this U.S. election year. Pyongyang could draw attention during campaign season and then de-escalate and engage in negotiations once the new presidency commences.

With no end to the Russia-Ukraine war in sight, North Korea is taking advantage of opportunities. Pyongyang, which halted diplomacy with Washington after a failed 2019 summit between President Trump and Mr. Kim, has been leveraging the Ukraine conflict to enhance relations with heavily sanctioned Russia.

No date was announced for Mr. Putin’s visit. Like Mr. Kim, Mr. Putin has made few foreign trips while under a slew of international sanctions. The Russian Foreign Ministry did not confirm that a visit had been discussed, but Mr. Putin said during the summit in September that he was looking forward to traveling to Pyongyang.

In announcing the planned trip, the North Korean Foreign Ministry dubbed Mr. Putin “the Korean people’s closest friend.”

Testing the Tsunami

North Korea said Friday that it tested the Haeil-5-23 in the East Sea/Sea of Japan, though it provided few details.

“Our army’s underwater nuke-based countering posture is being further rounded off, and its various maritime and underwater responsive actions will continue to deter the hostile military maneuvers of the navies of the U.S. and its allies,” a defense ministry official said in a statement carried by North Korea’s state media.

Over the past year, Mr. Kim has repeatedly called for an upgrade to his navy — an arm customarily underresourced compared with North Korea’s nuclear-armed ballistic missiles force, tactical rocket artillery and espionage/special forces command.

North Korea revealed in March that it was testing an atomic unmanned underwater vehicle, or UUV. It said the Haeil-1 could generate a “super-scale radioactive tsunami.” After testing the Haeil-2 in April, Pyongyang said the weapon had traveled 600 miles and detonated a test warhead.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington that the Biden administration did not have enough information to assess the North Korean claims about the weapon but noted a worrisome pattern of belligerent moves from the Kim regime.

“We’re in touch, obviously, with our South Korean partners to see whatever information context they might have about that. So I can’t verify the claims by the North,” Mr. Kirby said. “There’s little doubt that they continue to pursue advanced military capabilities to threaten their neighbors, to threaten the region.”

Though details are scarce, images show a torpedolike object operating below the surface and an underwater explosion. The Haeil is thought to be based on Russia’s Poseidon, a nuclear underwater drone.

The Pentagon confirmed the Poseidon’s existence in 2016, according to militarytoday.com.

Russia can mount a 2-megaton nuclear warhead onto the drone and operate at low depths and high speeds, making interception difficult. Essentially an autonomous nuclear torpedo, the Poseidon deploys from a submarine mother ship and could feasibly loiter on the seafloor until activated.

A Russian defense analyst, speaking on background at a Seoul conference before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine nearly two years ago, expressed unease with the weapon.

His fears focused on whether Russia installed an artificial intelligence system that, unmonitored by a human crew, could operate the Poseidon truly autonomously, beyond command-and-control structures. Moreover, being nuclear-propelled and nuclear-armed, its ability to loiter and roam is virtually limitless, the analyst said.

Year of living dangerously

Pyongyang watchers in Seoul expect further provocations from the North this year.

So far, North Korea has conducted coastal artillery drills off a sensitive South Korean front-line island, tested a hypersonic missile and announced its abandonment of any peaceful reunification with South Korea.

Concern has been raised that North Korea could test a tactical nuclear weapon — a more difficult device to engineer than the strategic warheads it has tested six times — or launch strikes at or near South Korea.

“I think North Korea is going to return to the pattern of provocations and more provocations, then negotiations with the U.S.,” said Go Myong-hyun, a North Korea watcher at Seoul’s Asan Institute. “North Korea gave up on talks as [President Biden] was indifferent, and because China and Russia are more aligned with them in the new Cold War framework.”

China and Russia have ceased condemnation of North Korea’s missile tests in the U.N. Security Council and undercut U.S. efforts on further sanctions. The warm Putin-Kim summit accelerated the process.

North Korea successfully placed a spy satellite into orbit, leading Seoul to assume Russia had provided technical assistance.

“Globally, there is a lot of instability and uncertainty: Would that kind of environment give [the North Koreans] the sense that opportunities are emerging for them to challenge the status quo?” asked Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based international relations expert with Troy University. “But there are risks involved. How much risk are they willing to accept?”

Given Washington’s political cycle, Pyongyang’s provocation calendar likely extends to year’s end.

“I think the North Koreans … are probably waiting for next year when [Mr.] Trump may come back,” Mr. Go said.

Mr. Trump was the first sitting U.S. president to negotiate with a North Korean leader. Mr. Biden did not follow that lead, and the Kim regime has signaled no interest in restarting talks with Washington.

“I think they want to front-load provocations this year,” Mr. Go said. “Next year, they get a clean slate [with a new or renewed administration] to negotiate from a position of strength.”

With Pyongyang insisting it will not discuss ending its nuclear weapons programs, negotiating space with Washington is limited. Some analysts who favor engagement with North Korea hope a U.S. president would abandon denuclearization and focus on arms control.

Mr. Pinkston said that would be a hard sell for any White House.

“What is in that for any American president? What is the political gain or rationale? How do you explain that to U.S. constituents?” he asked. “I just don’t see it.”