North Korea used “tactical nuclear” missiles in its recent blitz of tests to enhance and warn the enemies of its nuclear counterattack capabilities, state-run media reported on Monday.
State mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally guided the launches, which involved loading tactical nuclear warheads at a silo.
The recent tactical nuclear drills have demonstrated that North Korea’s nuclear combat forces are “fully prepared to hit and destroy targets at any time from any designated location,” according to the report.
“Various types of tactical ballistic missiles launched on Sept. 29 and Oct. 1 hit the targets with the combination of air explosion and direct precision and dispersion strike, proving the accuracy of our weapon systems,” KCNA stated.
According to the report, Kim ordered the drills “under the simulation of an actual war” in response to the United States’ and South Korea’s joint naval drills on the Korean Peninsula, which involved a U.S. aircraft carrier.
“We should send a clear signal to the enemies escalating the regional situation by involving armed forces with more powerful and resolute action,” the authoritarian leader was quoted as saying by KCNA.
Kim added that his country has no intention of engaging in dialogue with enemies that pose military threats to North Korea, despite their continued efforts to do so, it added.
North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the sea on Oct. 9 after the South Korean navy launched two-day joint naval drills with the United States’ USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group, marking its seventh launch in two weeks.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said the missiles flew 350 kilometers (217 miles) at a 100-kilometer (62-mile) altitude and landed outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
The U.S. carrier strike group earlier participated in trilateral ballistic missile defense drills alongside Japanese and South Korean warships in response to North Korea’s missile launch over Japan on Oct. 4.
Nuclear Test Preparations Near Completion
In its latest report, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) said that North Korea is in the last stages of completing its preparations for a seventh nuclear test, citing the excavation of underground tunnels at the Yongbyon site.
It claimed that North Korea obtained petroleum products through ship-to-ship cargo transfers, violating the UNSC sanctions, and used non-fungible token technology to raise money for its weapons program, Nikkei Asia reported.
The U.S. Treasury Department last week sanctioned two individuals and three entities involved in illicit ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum to North Korea, which it said directly supports the authoritarian regime’s weapons program.
North Korea earlier adopted a new law allowing it to conduct a nuclear strike “automatically” against any “hostile forces” posing an imminent threat. Kim vowed to “never give up nuclear weapons” even if North Korea is subjected to “100 years of sanctions.”
From The Epoch Times
