North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has urged for the country to be ready to launch nuclear weapons at any time to deter war, accusing the US and South Korea of escalating joint military drills using American nuclear assets, according to official media KCNA.
Kim’s statements came as the isolated country conducted drills on Saturday and Sunday aimed at enhancing its “war deterrent and nuclear counterattack capacity” in order to convey strong signals to the allies.
In the scenario of a tactical nuclear assault, a ballistic missile equipped with a dummy nuclear warhead travelled 800 km (497 miles) before hitting a target at an altitude of 800 m (0.5 mile), according to KCNA.
Kim, who oversaw the test, stated that the exercises strengthened the military’s actual combat capacity and emphasized the need of maintaining a ready posture for any “immediate and overwhelming nuclear retaliation” through such drills.
“The current circumstances, in which the adversaries’ movements toward aggression against the DPRK are becoming increasingly evident, urgently necessitates the DPRK to exponentially strengthen its nuclear war deterrence,” he said, according to KCNA.
Kim was abbreviating the official name of his country, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“With its high combat preparedness, the DPRK’s nuclear force will forcefully deter, control, and manage the enemy’s reckless acts and provocations, and carry out its crucial role without hesitation in the event of any undesired circumstance,” he said.
Kim was seen at the test, once again with his little daughter, as flames roared from the rising missile before it reached the target.
The launch of a North Korean short-range ballistic missile near the east coast of South Korea and Japan on Sunday was the latest in a series of missile tests in recent weeks.
North Korea has responded angrily to joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, calling them a dress rehearsal for an attack against it. Since earlier this month, the partners have been conducting a slew of yearly exercises, including air and sea drills featuring US B-1B strategic bombers on Sunday.
On Monday, the US and South Korean fleets and marine corps will begin their first large-scale Ssangyong amphibious landing drills in five years, which will last two weeks until April 3.
Last month, the two countries conducted tabletop exercises simulating a nuclear attack by North Korea, as part of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s push for greater trust in the United States’ extended deterrence – its military capability, particularly nuclear forces, to deter attacks on its allies.
In another dispatch, KCNA said that more than 1.4 million North Koreans had volunteered to join or re-enlist in the military to battle Seoul and Washington, an increase from the 800,000 announced just two days before by an official publication.