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According to state media, North Korea said on Monday that its recent barrage of missile launches were tests of its tactical nuclear weapons intended to “strike and wipe out” possible targets in South Korea and the United States. In the upcoming weeks, leader Kim Jong Un hinted that he might carry out more provocative tests. On the 77th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers’ Party, the North released a statement that is interpreted as an effort to strengthen public support for Kim as he deals with a pandemic-related economic crisis, a security threat from a strengthened U.S.-South Korean military alliance, as well as other challenges.
“Through seven times of launching drills of the tactical nuclear operation units, the genuine war capabilities… of the nuclear combat forces ready to hit and wipe out the set objects at any location and any time were exhibited to the full,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency stated. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan was reportedly participated in recent naval exercises between U.S. and South Korean forces, according to KCNA.
North Korea decided to stage “the simulation of an actual war” to test and strengthen its war deterrence and warn its enemies after seeing the drills as a military threat, according to KCNA. Despite the partners’ insistence that the military exercises are defensive in character, North Korea views them as an invasion practise. The U.S. and South Korean militaries have been increasing their exercises since the inauguration of a conservative government in Seoul in May. Previously, these exercises had been reduced because of the pandemic and the now-dormant nuclear diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington, as well as due to the pandemic.
All of the launches, which Kim oversaw, included a nuclear-capable ballistic missile launched under a reservoir in the northeast, a ballistic missile that also mimicked the loading of tactical nuclear warheads intended to strike a South Korean airfield, and a new type of ground-to-ground ballistic missile that flew over Japan, according to KCNA. Informing South Korea and the US of North Korea’s nuclear response stance and assault capabilities, Kim claimed the launches were “an unmistakable warning.”
We are constantly and rigorously monitoring the situation crisis, according to KCNA, and the U.S. and the South Korean regime’s deliberate, persistent, and irresponsible deeds of heightening the tension will only draw our greater reply. Kim reiterated his previous position that he would prefer concentrate on building up his arsenal of weapons than resume the disarmament negotiations with the United States at this time.
We have no content for communication with the adversaries and have felt no need to do so, Kim was reported as saying. “Saying that the opponents have still talked about dialogue and negotiation despite presenting military threats to us,” Kim was quoted as saying. “Before all else, we should send a clearer signal to the adversaries aggravating the regional situation by involving the massive armed forces at any time with more potent and uncompromising resolve and action.”
According to some experts, Kim’s words raise the possibility that he could conduct more publicised weapons tests, such as his nation’s first nuclear test in five years. In addition to planning to test a new liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile and a submarine-launched ballistic missile, South Korean officials recently stated that North Korea remains prepared to conduct its seventh nuclear test. The United States has consistently pushed North Korea to resume negotiations without any restrictions. However, North Korea has stated that it won’t do so unless the US abandons its hostile policies toward it, a clear allusion to the ongoing military exercises between the US and South Korea and the US-led economic sanctions.
According to some experts, Kim would eventually like to utilise his sophisticated nuclear programme to convince the United States that North Korea is a true nuclear power, which Kim believes is necessary to have the debilitating U.N. sanctions against his nation repealed. Professor Leif-Eric Easley from Ewha University in Seoul claimed that North Korea has several reasons for publicising a high-profile missile tale at this time. To commemorate the Workers’ Party’s founding anniversary, “Kim Jong Un’s public return after a month away” makes for a patriotic headline.
“In order to bolster its self-declared deterrence, Pyongyang is explicitly stating that its recent missile launches are motivated by a nuclear threat in response to military drills by the United States, South Korea, and Japan. The KCNA claim could possibly portend an upcoming nuclear test of a tactical weapon that would outfit the units Kim visited in the field “added Easley. (AP)
