President Kim Jong Un on Monday March 20 accused the United States and South Korea of conducting joint military drills near the country’s doorstep.
The North Korean leader has said North Korea must be ready to launch nuclear counter strikes at any time to deter war.
Kim’s remarks come after ‘guiding’ combined tactical drills of operational units simulating a nuclear counterattack against North Korea’s enemies over the weekend, which he described as having ‘greatly improved the actual war capability of the units,’ according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The state media said a North Korean ballistic missile equipped with a mock nuclear warhead that was launched on Sunday, March 19 flew about 800 kilometers (500 miles) before hitting a target at an altitude of 800 meters (0.5 miles) under the scenario of a tactical nuclear attack.
In efforts to get prepared for war, the North launched drills that included a short-range missile launch from a buried silo, which analysts believe will improve speed and stability for future ICBM tests.
‘Until now, North Korea has preferred mobile launchers for everything from SRBMs to even huge ICBMs, but given its poor road and system conditions, it was difficult to guarantee the stability of the missile during actual operations,’ said Yang Uk, a fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.
‘The latest launch might possibly serve as a test for future launches of larger missiles like the Hwasong-17 ICBM in a silo.’
The military drills allowed North Korean troops to become ‘familiar with any unexpected circumstances and make them more perfectly prepared in their active posture of making an immediate and overwhelming nuclear counterattack [at] anytime,’ KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
Kim, appeared in images alongside his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, who is believed to be around 9 years old. She has been repeatedly photographed alongside her father at missile launches in recent months.
He said it was ‘very important to continuously organize and conduct such drills under the simulated conditions of an actual war.’
The joint drills conducted by the US and North Korea featured US B-1B strategic bombers, F-35A stealth fighters from the South Korean Air Force and F-16 fighters of the US Air Force.
Kim accused the US and South Korea of expanding joint military drills involving American nuclear assets and claimed that his enemies are getting ‘ever more pronounced in their moves for aggression,’ which prompted his call for North Korea to ‘bolster up its nuclear war deterrence exponentially,’ KCNA said.
‘The drill marked an important occasion in preparing our nuclear combat force to rapidly and accurately perform its crucial mission of war deterrence and securing war initiative any moment and under any unexpected circumstances,’ state media quoted Kim as saying.
Kim said the exercises improved the military’s war capability and urged the military to stand ready for any ‘immediate and overwhelming nuclear counterattack anytime.’
