North conducts nuke counterattack drills over weekend

North Korea

North conducts nuke counterattack drills over weekend

Published: 20 Mar. 2023, 15:55

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, is seen in footage released by Pyongyang's Korean Central Television alongside his daughter Kim Ju-ae overseeing drills simulating a nuclear counterattack that the North's state media said took place this past weekend. [YONHAP]

North Korea's state media reported Monday that the regime conducted drills simulating nuclear counterattacks against its enemies during the weekend.

The North’s leader Kim Jong-un oversaw and “guided” exercises by military units operating tactical nuclear weapons Saturday and Sunday, including a ballistic missile launch drill, according to the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Photos carried by state media showed that his daughter Kim Ju-ae was also in attendance at the drills.

Kim was quoted by the KCNA as saying his regime “cannot deter war only with the fact that [North Korea] is a nuclear state,” and that the weekend drills are aimed at bolstering the regime’s readiness in the face of the United States and South Korea “frantically” conducting their joint military exercise, which he claimed was a “rehearsal of invasion” of the North.

“Only when we complete the country’s readiness posture for nuclear attacks that can be operated swiftly and accurately at any time, we can fulfill the important, strategic mission of deterring war," Kim said according to the KCNA.

The KCNA said the regime conducted a drill to review the reliability of its tactical nuclear force on Saturday, followed by a ballistic missile launch Sunday morning simulating a tactical nuclear attack to check its nuclear weapons detonators.

The missile was fired from Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, and “exploded in the air” at a height of 800 meters above the East Sea, after flying 800 kilometers (497 meters), according the KCNA.

Sunday’s launch, which South Korean defense officials said was likely that of a KN-23 short-range ballistic missile, was the fourth missile launch by the North within a week.

The North launched a pair of submarine-launched cruise missiles on March 12, followed by two medium-range ballistic missiles on March 14 and a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday.

The KCNA report on the regime’s tactical nuclear drill was released the same day that South Korean and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps forces kicked off a large-scald joint amphibious exercise.

South Korean military officials said the Ssang Yong training exercise started in Pohang, North Gyeongsang on Monday and is scheduled to run until April 3.

The exercise was not held in the past five years due to a policy of inter-Korean rapprochement pursued by the preceding Moon Jae-in administration in Seoul.

The Ssang Yong exercise has been revived alongside the allies’ ongoing spring joint exercise, Freedom Shield, and consists of outdoor maneuver and field training sessions involving multiple South Korean and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps divisions.

Over 30 vessels are taking part in the Ssang Yong drill, including South Korea’s ROKS Dokdo amphibious assault ship and the USS Makin Island amphibious assault ship.

Ssang Yong will also see the involvement of some 70 aircraft, including F-35B stealth fighter jets and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, as well as 50 amphibious assault vehicles.

The allies’ Freedom Shield exercise is scheduled to run until March 23.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]