State-run media in North Korea has spoken out about the country’s most recent round of missile tests, saying they included in a series of practice firings meant to show the country’s ability to launch strategic nuclear bombs at probable targets in South Korea.
The drills, according to Kim, were “an evident warning and unmistakable demonstration” to the nation’s foes. Kim previously stated that the North’s development into nuclear power was unavoidable.
Though they wouldn’t be able to reach their arch-enemy, the US, the regime’s quick strategic nuclear missiles could potentially be employed against South Korea and Japan.
The state news agency KCNA reported on Monday that Kim had directed the test to begin in reaction to extensive naval exercises by South Korean and US forces.
The drills, which Pyongyang views as a practice for an invasion, were recently resumed by Tokyo and Washington, which included the mobilization of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan to the seas off the east coast of South Korea. According to KCNA, North Korea decided to organize military exercises under the simulation of an actual war in response.
The statements made by North Korea on Monday, according to Jeffrey Lewis, head of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, suggested probable advancement in its missile program.
“What I find noteworthy is that these launches are portrayed as testing of the launchers rather than the weapons themselves. That implies that these systems are in use, Lewis tweeted.
The report, which confirmed that Kim personally oversaw the drills, stated that army units engaged in “the operation of nuclear warheads, staged military drills from 25 September to 9 October in order to check and analyze the war deterrent and nuclear retaliation capacity of the country.”
