North Korea has issued a warning to Japan over its upcoming test-fire of a prototype railgun.
The futuristic weapon signals Japan is mulling a preemptive attack on the nuclear-armed country, state media said, adding that this would be a “suicidal act.”
Newsweek reached out to the Korean embassy in China and Japan’s defense ministry via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Railguns can inflict significant damage without relying on explosives. They use electromagnetic force to fire metal slugs at speeds exceeding Mach 5. The weapons offer a relatively low-cost, effective means of countering threats such as hypersonic missiles, including those fielded.
Official development began in 2016, and the United States ally conducted the first known shipboard test of a railgun in 2023. Another test is planned aboard an experimental warship, this time mounted on a naval turret to simulate real-world combat conditions.
What To Know
An article released Saturday by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) characterized Japan’s ongoing military buildup as part of a plan to establish another “great Japanese empire.”
Development of new weapon platforms such as the railgun is “aimed at enhancing and expanding the utility of preemptive attack directly targeting the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] and the neighboring countries and thus realizing at any cost the old ambition of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere,” KCNA quoted international security analyst Kim Ryo Won as saying, using North Korea’s official name.
Framed as a pan-Asian bloc led by Tokyo, the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” was a concept used by the Empire of Japan to justify its expansion during World War II.
“The reckless military buildup of Japan, a war criminal state, to make a preemptive attack on nuclear weapons states while turning the archipelago into a huge powder magazine will be a suicidal act of dashing toward the second defeat,” Kim said.
Japan has been steadily strengthening security ties with the U.S. and South Korea, focusing on the North Korean threat and China’s increasing assertiveness.
North Korea claims to have successfully tested an intermediate-range hypersonic missile in January, though South Korean officials have expressed skepticism about its stated capabilities.
Pyongyang has carried out frequent missile tests in violation of United Nations Security Council sanctions and continues to build out its nuclear weapons program. The Kim Jong Un regime insists both are necessary for self-defense, citing “provocations” by the U.S. and its allies.
What People Are Saying
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces, in an April press release: “The Self-Defense Fleet maintains readiness and contributes to the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region, not only for the defense of Japan but also for the realization of a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ in cooperation with allied and like-minded navies.”
What Happens Next
It remains unclear when Japan plans to field its railgun.
China has also been developing a railgun and reportedly conducted a shipboard test last year, though it was said to have failed after the projectile veered off course.
The U.S. Navy abandoned its railgun program in 2021, shifting its focus to other advanced weapons, including hypersonic missiles.
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