North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called on his nation’s military to get “perfectly prepared” to conduct a nuclear attack, state media reported Monday.
The North held a two-day exercise over the weekend to practice its nuclear response capabilities, state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, including a ballistic missile launch on Sunday morning.
The drill “marked an important occasion in preparing our nuclear combat force to rapidly and accurately perform its crucial mission of war deterrence and securing war initiative any moment and under any unexpected circumstances,” Kim said, according to KCNA.
He stressed the need for military personnel to get “perfectly prepared in their active posture of making an immediate and overwhelming nuclear counterattack anytime.”
The missile was fired from Cholsan County in North Pyongan Province on the country’s west coast, KCNA said. It traveled roughly 500 miles and exploded a half-mile above its target in the waters east of the Korean Peninsula.
The drill “simulated a nuclear strike at a major enemy target,” the report said.
South Korea’s military detected and reported the launch on Sunday, the latest in a series of weapons tests in recent weeks.
Pyongyang has angrily denounced the ongoing US-South Korea Freedon Shield joint military exercise, which began last week and will continue until Thursday. Sunday’s launch came just ahead of air drills involving US B-1B strategic bombers.
North Korea conducted an intercontinental ballistic missile launch on Thursday.
CURRENTPH NEWS SERVICE
