North Korea test-fires new anti-ship cruise missile

North Korea has unveiled its new anti-ship cruise missile that could pose fatal threat to South Korea’s naval vessel. Korean Central News Agency and the Rodong Sinmun of North Korea made public on Saturday the entire test-firing exercise with Kim Jong Un, the first secretary of the ruling Workers` Party, on-site in which the ship-to-ship missile fired from North Korea’s vessel destroyed the target flying above the sea’s surface. This is the first time that the North revealed its firing drills of ship-to-ship missile.

“Honoring the wish of supreme commander Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s national defense scientists, engineers and workers in the military industry have developed the new ultra-precision anti-ship rocket with its state-of-the-art technology,” the two state-run media announced. “The new rocket will soon be placed for the actual battle so that we could make strong confrontations against our enemies, whether it is a contact or non-contact war, who try to deal a blow to our military.”

The test-firing was conducted by North Korean Navy unit 155 under the direction of Jin Chol Su, commander of North Korean Navy`s East Sea Fleet. Satisfied with the level of development of the new rocket, Kim Jong Un said, "More guided tactic weapon systems that are highly precise and intelligent should be produced so as to seize the initiative in war operations and battles.”

A South Korean official said, “The North test-fired off the coast of Wonsan on Friday and the missile flew some 100 kilometers." Its new rocket is presumed to be KN-type missile developed based on Kh-35 anti-ship missile, which had been made by Russia in the 1990s. The Kh-35 missile has the maximum speed of Mach 0.8 without being influence by radio frequency disturbance and can destroy a target that is away from a maximum of 130 kilometers. Its extreme range is 50 kilometers longer than Styx ship-to-ship missiles whose maximum range is 80 kilometers.

In addition, the Kh-35 can fly at very low altitude of 15 meters and go down even lower when it gets closer to the target to make a surprise attack, which makes it difficult to be detected by radar.

It appears that North Korea’s new missile could pose a serious threat to South Korea’s naval vessel that protects the Northern Limit Line in the West. South Korean Destroyer eXperimental (KDX) and new vessel frigate are equipped with interception system, such as Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) and goalkeeper, while the old patrol frigate and vessel frigate has only chaff disrupting enemy’s radar signal. The high speed boat of South Korean Navy deployed to the front line in the West Sea has no countermeasures at all.

For this reason, it is analyzed that the North tries to employ “asymmetry tactics” so as to overcome its qualitative inferiority against South Korea’s naval capability with its anti-ship missile of longer range as its Long Range Artillery on the ground.

The North also unveiled its newly-built vessel (presumed to be 300-ton) for the first time on the same day. The vessel can sail at the maximum speed of 90 kilometers and is designed as stealth configuration, which is hard to be detected. It is equipped with four ship-to-ship missiles and high-speed close-in air defense cannon. South Korea’s military reckons that the North is revealing its new missile and vessel to stage an armed protest prior to the South Korea-U.S. drills to be held in March.