KCNA said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw two days of drills “simulating a nuclear retaliation,” involving the launch of a ballistic missile with a dummy nuclear payload. South Korea and the US also conducted military exercises. Kim was “satisfied” with the weekend launches, which were undertaken to “let relevant units get familiar with the procedures and processes for performing their tactical nuclear attack missions,” KCNA stated on Monday.
The agency posted photographs of Kim and his little daughter during the test as the missile screamed before hitting the target. It said a ballistic missile with a simulated nuclear warhead travelled 800km (497 miles) and hit a target at 800m (2,625ft) in the tests. “The nuclear force of the DPRK will resolutely deter, control and manage the enemy’s reckless acts and provocations with its high combat preparedness, and carry out its crucial job without hesitation in any undesired situation,” Kim was reported as saying. The drills were Pyongyang’s fourth in a week and occurred as South Korea and the US conduct Freedom Shield, which North Korea views as a rehearsal for an invasion. On Sunday, the two allies conducted air and sea drills using American B-1B strategic bombers, and on Monday, their fleets and marine corps will begin the massive Ssangyong amphibious landing exercises. The largest drills in five years last two weeks till April 3. Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, told reporters by email that the Kim regime understands when and how it has misled and overstated its deterrent capabilities but cannot be sure what Washington and its allies know. Pyongyang portrays a tactical nuclear counterstrike as an overwhelming response to counter the significant capabilities highlighted in U.S.-South Korean defense exercises. In response to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s call for stronger trust in US extended deterrence, the US and South Korea undertook tabletop drills simulating North Korea’s nuclear assault last month. Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Center for Far Eastern Studies, told AFP that this is turning the Korean peninsula into “a hotspot with heightened potential for a nuclear war”.
“As South Korea-US drills intensify, the likelihood of unanticipated scenarios grows, and mutual physical conflicts may occur,” he stated. After decades of animosity, South Korea and Japan have increased security cooperation amid North Korean nuclear tests. UN sanctions prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles. Pyongyang tested its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) again last week. According to Yonhap, the US and Japan requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Monday to discuss the ICBM launch.
