Seoul (AFP) – North Korea has mentioned it fired two short-range ballistic missiles as a part of a “tactical nuclear strike drill” prompted by US-South Korean navy workouts, state media reported Thursday.
The missile launches — first reported by the South Korean navy — got here amid Washington and Seoul’s annual Ulchi Freedom Shield workouts, which at all times infuriate Pyongyang.
The North’s military mentioned in an announcement that the missiles have been fired late Wednesday in a “tactical nuclear strike drill simulating scorched earth strikes at major command centers and operational airfields” throughout the border in South Korea.
The “tactical ballistic missiles” have been fired in direction of the East Sea, often known as the Sea of Japan, simply earlier than midnight, South Korea’s Yonhap news company quoted Seoul’s navy as saying.
“The drill is aimed to send a clear message to the enemies,” the military mentioned within the assertion, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
Pyongyang has carried out a document variety of weapons exams this yr.
The North additionally staged its personal command-level military drills on Tuesday in response to the US-South Korean workouts, throughout which the nation’s chief Kim Jong Un visited a coaching command put up, KCNA mentioned.
“The drill is aimed at letting all the commanding officers and staff sections of the entire army make full preparations for war,” KCNA mentioned of the coaching train.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff in the meantime mentioned the navy south of the border was “maintaining a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States”.
Their mixed air drills concerned not less than one US B-1B strategic bomber flying above the Korean Peninsula earlier Wednesday, in line with Yonhap — a element that notably irritated Pyongyang.
The North known as the overflight “a serious threat” and “pursuant to the scenario for a pre-emptive nuclear strike at the DPRK,” the official acronym for North Korea.
‘Irreversible’ nuclear energy
US nationwide safety spokesman John Kirby, who was giving a briefing when news of the launch broke, declined to remark to reporters in Washington.
On Tuesday, the United States, South Korea and Japan additionally held a trilateral naval missile defence train that enraged North Korea.
Washington, Seoul and Tokyo have beefed up their defence cooperation in latest months in response to growing missile provocations by the North.
Last week, Pyongyang carried out its second try and put a spy satellite tv for pc into orbit, though it resulted in failure.
Kim has declared North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear energy and has known as for ramped-up arms manufacturing, together with tactical nuclear weapons.
He has additionally known as for reinforcing North Korea’s navy, saying the nation’s waters brimmed with “the danger of a nuclear war”, state media reported.
“Owing to the reckless confrontational moves of the US and other hostile forces, the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been reduced into the world’s biggest war hardware concentration spot,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
“To achieve the successes in rapidly developing the naval force has become a very urgent issue in view of the enemies’ recent aggressive attempts.”
© 2023 AFP
Originally printed on France24