(Seoul) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un conducted two-day military drills “simulating a nuclear counterattack” and including a ballistic missile launch equipped with a “dummy nuclear warhead”, the report reported on Monday. North Korean state agency KCNA.
During the maneuvers conducted on Saturday and Sunday, simulation exercises took place around the transition to a nuclear counter-attack posture, as well as an exercise in “launching a tactical ballistic missile equipped with a dummy nuclear warhead”, according to KCNA.
“The missile was fitted with a test warhead simulating a nuclear warhead,” KCNA said later, without giving further details.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the short-range ballistic missile fired by Pyongyang on Sunday flew 800 kilometers before falling into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.
According to the South Korean army, it is a “serious provocation” in contravention of United Nations sanctions. The American and South Korean intelligence services are carrying out analyses.
Tokyo also condemned the shooting, as did the US military command in the region.
Kim expressed his “satisfaction” after this weekend of exercises, according to KCNA, organized to “allow the units concerned to familiarize themselves with the procedures and processes for implementing their tactical nuclear attack missions”.
It was Pyongyang’s fourth show of force in a week, as Seoul and Washington conduct their biggest joint military exercises in five years, dubbed “Freedom Shield” and lasting 11 days.
North Korea views all such exercises as rehearsals for an invasion of its territory and has repeatedly warned that it will respond to them in an “overwhelming” manner.
Washington and Seoul have strengthened their defense cooperation in the face of growing military and nuclear threats from Pyongyang, which has increased weapons tests in recent months.
“Great Confidence”
Cold for years due to a historic dispute, Seoul and Tokyo have resumed communication at the highest level and decided to strengthen their security cooperation.
On Thursday, Pyongyang fired its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the most powerful in its arsenal, in the presence of leader Kim Jong-un and his daughter, and just before a visit to Japan by the southern president. -Korean Yoon Suk Yeol.
It was Pyongyang’s second ICBM test this year, which KCNA said at the time was a response to “frenzied” military exercises by South Korea and the United States.
The firing itself came after the launch Tuesday of two short-range ballistic missiles and, on March 12, two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine.
The United Nations Security Council is to hold a security meeting on Monday about the ICBM launch at the request of Washington and Tokyo, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Kim Jong-un said the exercises on Saturday and Sunday instilled “great confidence” in North Korean military units, according to KCNA.
According to him, North Korea “cannot really deter a war simply because it is a (nuclear) weapon state”, and the country will only be able to achieve its objectives “when the nuclear force is perfected. (to become) a means actually capable of carrying out an attack against the enemy”.
In 2022, Pyongyang described its status as a nuclear power as “irreversible”. Mr. Kim recently called for an exponential increase in his production of weapons, including tactical nuclear weapons.
At the beginning of March, he also ordered his army to intensify its military maneuvers in view of a “real war”.