North Korea simulates nuclear strike on South Korea with short-range ballistic missiles

Asia-Pacific, News September 1, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

North Korea fired two short-range cruise missiles on August 31, 2023, in a drill to “simulate a nuclear strike” on South Korea. Pyongyang conducted the latest missile strike drill in response to the U.S.-South Korea military exercises and the deployment of U.S. B1-B bomber aircraft in the region.

The North Korean People’s Army (KPA) released a statement following the missile launch saying that “The KPA staged a tactical nuclear strike drill simulating scorched-earth strikes at major command centers and operational airfields of the ‘ROK’ military gangsters on Wednesday night.”

The statement which was released by the country’s state-owned media outlet added that the nuclear strike simulation drills were conducted as a warning to the U.S.’s deployment of bomber aircraft in the region. Pyongyang accused Washington and its allies of creating “the danger of a nuclear war” in the region through its military activities.

South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that it detected the launch of two short-range cruise missiles near Pyongyang on August 31. The JCS reported that the two missiles traveled about 360 kilometers before landing off the peninsula’s eastern coast.

North Korea nuclear strike drill — ^{This combination of photos provided by the North Korean government shows what it calls a tactical nuclear strike drill in Pyongyang, North Korea, on August 30, 2023. (Image Credit: Korean Central News Agency)}

South Korean officials added that the test took place at night time which posed “a grave provocation” and threatened international peace. The statement added that North Korea’s missile launch is a blatant violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban any ballistic launches from North Korea.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also condemned the missile launch stating that “These conducts pose threats to peace and stability of not only our country, but of the region and international community, and cannot be tolerated.”

U.S.-South Korea military drills

North Korea has conducted a record number of missile launches over the past few months. The latest of these tests come at a time when the U.S. and South Korean forces are wrapping up their 11-day-long Ulchi Freedom Shield military drills.

As soon as the exercises started on August 21, North Korea reported a cruise missile launch. North Korea’s state media reported that Kim Jong Un inspected a cruise missile test aboard a warship. The launch was aimed at demonstrating “the feature of its missile system,” and was also designed to “make the seamen skilled at carrying out the attack mission in actual war,” the official North Korea’s state-owned Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

^{US Air Force B-1B bombers and F-16 fighter jets along with South Korean Air Force F-35A fighter jets take part in a joint air drill on February 19, 2023. (Image Credit: South Korean Defense Ministry/via Reuters)}

Separately, the U.S. also announced the deployment of its B1-B bombers in South Korea. The bombers are conducting separate drills with their South Korean and Japanese counterparts around the Korean Peninsula.

Naval forces from the U.S., Japan, and South Korea staged joint ballistic missile defense drills off the coast of the Korean Peninsula in the East China Sea near South Korea’s Jeju Island, on August 29. The trilateral exercise was aimed at strengthening the naval forces’ joint response capability to counter the threat of ballistic missile attack.