North Korea has said recent missile tests were a warning to the US and South Korea. Pyongyang claimed the tests were to ‘warn the enemies of the actual nuclear war danger’
North Korea says it has responded to recent drills by the US and South Korea by simulating a nuclear missile attack.
The rogue state said it was warning of a "nuclear war danger" as it equipped a number of cruise missiles with mock nuclear warheads and launched them into the sea. The launches occurred on the North's West coast on Saturday morning, according to a statement from the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
North Korea's state media outlet KCNA reported the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea as saying that the exercise involved “two long-range strategic cruise missiles with mock nuclear warheads."
It comes two days after the US and South Korean militaries ended exercises that spanned the course of 11 days. Washington and Seoul officials say the drills are defensive, but North Korea claims it is a rehearsal for invasion.
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Before the exercise ended, two short-range ballistic missiles were also launched by North Korea with the aim of simulating “scorched earth” nuclear strikes on South Korea. “(The aerial drill) is a serious threat to (North Korea) as it was just pursuant to the scenario for a preemptive nuclear strike at” North Korea, the Korean People’s Army general staff said. “The KPA will never overlook the rash acts of the U.S. forces and the (South Korean) military gangsters.”
North Korea has performed over 100 weapons tests since the start of last year. A number of them are banned ballistic missile launches.
Some experts believe North Korean leader Kim Jong Un uses missile launches as a bartering tool. Currently, the country is under major sanctions including from the UN, and using military drills as a pretext to expand his arsenal may improve his leverage in future negotiations.
The relationship between the US and North Korea, however, is widely believed to be at a nadir. In July, the US demonstrated a show of force by deploying a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea first time in four decades.
The Ohio-class submarine USS Kentucky – the vessel can deploy 24 Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) – was sent to South Korea, which South Korea Defence Minister Lee Jong-Sup said was there as "extended deterrence."
In response, Kim's powerful sister and close adviser Kim Yo Jong said on Monday that US deterrence will make North Korea “go farther away from the negotiating table."
Also in July, US soldier Travis King appeared to voluntarily cross the demilitarised zone between the North and South. Pyongyang has since said King has "expressed willingness" for refuge because he "harboured ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army.”
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