2024-01-19T04:52:04+00:00
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/ North Korea’s Central News Agency said on Friday that Pyongyang had tested an underwater nuclear weapons system.
According to the agency, this test came in response to joint military exercises conducted by South Korea, the United States and Japan this week.
The North Korean Ministry of Defense said in a statement carried by the agency that these exercises “seriously threatened the security” of North Korea.
In response, Pyongyang conducted “an important test of its underwater nuclear weapon system (HIL-5-23) under development in the East Sea of Korea,” the ministry added.
North Korea launched a ballistic missile on Sunday, according to the South Korean army, days after Pyongyang conducted live fire exercises near the tense maritime border with the South.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said in a statement that “North Korea launched an unspecified ballistic missile towards the East Sea,” also known as the Sea of Japan.
The missile launch came days after North Korea fired a barrage of artillery shells near the tense maritime border with South Korea, prompting Seoul to conduct similar firing exercises in the same area.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged, in a major meeting of the ruling party in late December, to expand his nuclear arsenal and launch additional spy satellites to deal with what he described as “offensive moves” led by the United States.