[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] North Korea's Cruise Missile Development Race... Why?

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] As North Korea's launch of two cruise missiles became known, there is an assessment that it is accelerating the development of cruise missiles.

A government source said on the 24th, "North Korea launched two cruise missiles over the West Sea last Sunday at a short range," adding, "It is unreasonable to consider them as short-range missiles."

Missiles are divided into strategic missiles and tactical missiles. Strategic weapons refer to missiles that can strike not only the enemy during wartime but also industrial facilities and cities in the enemy's mainland. In other words, these are missiles capable of carrying nuclear or biochemical warheads.

The cruise missiles launched by North Korea this time belong to tactical missiles. Tactical missiles are classified according to the launch point and target. These include 'surface-to-surface missiles' that are launched from the ground to attack ground targets, 'surface-to-air missiles' that attack airborne fighter jets from the ground, and 'surface-to-ship missiles' that attack surface naval vessels from the ground.

The reason North Korea has embarked on developing tactical cruise missiles is that, although slower than ballistic missiles, they have superior accuracy and fly at low altitudes, making detection and interception difficult. In particular, the cruise missiles developed by North Korea weigh less than 500 kg and have a maximum range of less than 300 km, so unlike ballistic missiles, they do not violate the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) or United Nations Security Council resolutions. This means they can significantly strengthen military power while avoiding international sanctions.

A representative cruise missile developed by North Korea is the new anti-ship missile 'Geumseong-3.' The Geumseong-3 was mounted on the Nongo-class stealth fast attack craft in 2015. The Geumseong-3 is an anti-ship cruise missile that was reverse-engineered from the Russian Kh-35E Uran anti-ship missile. The Kh-35 is a missile with a length of 3.85 m, a range of 130 km, a top speed of Mach 0.8, and a weight of 480 kg (with a high-explosive warhead weighing 145 kg), guided by inertial navigation and active radar.

The Kh-35, developed to strike medium to large vessels such as 5,000-ton destroyers, has at least 11 variants. These include the Kh-35U Kayak for fighter aircraft, the Kh-35E launched from ships and helicopters, the 3M24M Bal for coastal batteries, and the Kh-35UE for export, used on various platforms. The Geumseong-3 reverse-engineered by North Korea is considered to be the Kh-35E version.

The South Korean military also analyzed that the body of the surface-to-ship cruise missile launched by North Korea on June 8, 2016, has the same shape as the KH-35E. The Kh-35 is 3.85 m long, weighs 480 kg (warhead weight 145 kg), has a diameter of 42 cm, and a speed of Mach 0.8.

U.S. reconnaissance satellites also detected the Geumseong-3 mounted on a North Korean guided missile patrol boat last August. At that time, former U.S. President Donald Trump, who was on vacation, retweeted it, instantly attracting worldwide attention. It is estimated that North Korea secured samples of the Russian new anti-ship missile Kh-35 Uran through exchanges with Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar and Vietnam.

North Korea has completed the development of surface-to-ship and surface-to-surface cruise missiles, but it is known to have failed in developing air-to-surface and air-to-ship cruise missiles that can be mounted and launched from fighter jets.

Military authorities assess that North Korea's ground- and ship-launched anti-ship missiles will pose a threat to U.S. naval forces reinforced to the Korean Peninsula in case of emergency, as well as to naval vessels operating south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the East and West Seas during peacetime.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.