North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles in a drill simulating a “scorched-earth” nuclear strike on targets in South Korea, in response to ongoing joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea, state media said.
Pyongyang correctly carried out its “nuclear strike mission,” the general staff of the North Korean People’s Army (KPA) said in a statement carried by the news agency KCNA on Thursday.
“The KPA staged a tactical nuclear strike drill simulating scorched-earth strikes at major command centres and operational airfields of the ‘ROK’ military gangsters on Wednesday night,” it said, using the acronym for South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement that the North Korean missiles were launched from a site around Pyongyang and travelled about 360 kilometres (225 miles) before landing off the peninsula’s east coast.
The JCS called the launches “a grave provocation” that threatened international peace and breached United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban any ballistic launches by North Korea. It said the South Korean and US intelligence authorities were analysing the details of the launch.
The launch came hours after the US deployed strategic B1-B bombers as part of the large-scale Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises that take place each year and wrap up on Friday. Pyongyang claims the drills are a rehearsal for invasion.
Link from www.aljazeera.com
