Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is overseeing the country’s first “nuclear power” exercise, the state-run KCNA news agency said on Tuesday, including a nuclear strike as a warning to enemies.
According to the Korean Central News Agency, the exercise demonstrated North Korea’s “nuclear trigger” control system for the first time.
According to reports, the exercise was conducted on Monday. Seoul’s military said the North had fired several short-range ballistic missiles that day, and Tokyo confirmed the launch.
The report said Kim “led a joint tactical exercise that simulated a nuclear counterattack involving numerous rocket artillery.”
The missile struck an “island target” about 352 kilometers (219 miles) away, and Kim said he was “satisfied” with the result, which led to a “Korean-style tactical nuclear attack.”
According to KCNA, the drill examined the “reliability of command, control, monitoring and operating systems of all nuclear forces” and said that more missile units had “mastered” the ability to switch to anti-nuclear attack mode.
KCNA said the exercise was in response to the US-South Korea joint air drills to be held from April 12 to April 26.
The U.S. and South Korean air forces said the annual exercise would “demonstrate lethality in the airspace and improve our ability to protect, defend and defeat any adversary.”
KCNA said on Tuesday that Pyongyang “is under serious threat from the continuous military provocations of enemy forces”.
