2023-09-03 07:49:57
After the end of large-scale US military maneuvers with South Korea, North Korea has once more threatened a potential nuclear attack. The self-proclaimed nuclear power confirmed on Sunday that it had fired two military guided missiles the day before. The purpose of the exercise was to simulate a “tactical nuclear attack,” the state media reported. This should warn North Korea’s enemies.
Pyongyang’s autocratic leadership sees the United States and South Korea as enemies. The launches of two cruise missiles in North Korea, which is largely isolated internationally because of its nuclear weapons program, were recorded by the South Korean military on Saturday morning (local time). They were therefore shot down into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and China. No further details were initially known.
According to North Korean media, the exercise was carried out on a written order from the Workers’ Party Central Military Commission. Two “strategic long-range cruise missiles” with dummy nuclear warheads were fired. They flew 1,500 kilometers and then detonated over a targeted target in the Yellow Sea.
There was initially no official reaction from South Korea to the information. However, national news agency Yonhap quoted a representative of the general staff in Seoul on Sunday as saying that North Korea’s descriptions appear to have been exaggerated.
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles last Wednesday night. Later it also spoke of a simulated “tactical nuclear attack”.
Only on Thursday did South Korea and the USA end their eleven-day military maneuvers “Ulchi Freedom Shield” in the region, for which strategic US bombers were used in addition to fighter jets. Pyongyang regularly accuses the United States and South Korea of preparing for an attack with their military exercises – which both countries deny.
North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile program is seen as a direct threat by the US and its allies South Korea and Japan. North Korea is banned by UN resolutions from testing ballistic missiles, which – depending on the design – can also carry nuclear warheads. Tests of cruise missiles are not subject to sanctions once morest Pyongyang. However, such weapons can also be used to deploy nuclear warheads.
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