All of the North’s latest missile launches were “tactical nuclear” exercises in which leader Kim Jong Un personally participated, state news agency KCNA reported on Monday.
“Korean People’s Army units tasked with using tactical nuclear weapons held military exercises from September 25 to October 9 to verify and assess the country’s nuclear deterrence and counterattack capability, which constitutes a stern warning to the enemies,” the KCNA said.
The agency added that “Kim Jong Un, secretary general of the Korean Workers’ Party and chairman of the Central Military Commission, guided the military exercises in the field.”
At a party convention in January 2021, Kim outlined a five-year military plan in which he outlined the development of smaller, lighter nuclear weapons for “more tactical uses.”
South Korea, Japan and the United States have stepped up joint naval exercises in recent weeks, angering the North, which sees the exercises as a rehearsal of invasion and uses it to justify missile launches.
The country revised its nuclear laws in September, devising a wide variety of scenarios in which it could use its nuclear weapons, and Kim declared North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear power and closed the possibility of a dialogue on denuclearization.
According to KCNA, the increase in post-tests was a response to the maneuvers of the three countries.
Last week, Pyongyang fired a medium-range ballistic missile at Japan after officials and analysts said it was completing preparations for a new nuclear test.
launch systems
Analyst Ankit Panda said North Korea’s assertion that missile launches are a “response” to US and South Korean exercises is part of a “well-known spiral dynamic” on the Korean peninsula.
“I am concerned that this is the beginning of a dangerous dynamic in the Korean peninsula, where two states are in fierce competition and each faces strong incentives to fire first in a serious crisis,” he warned.
North Korea has also released several photos of recent missile tests, tests and exercises, where Kim oversees everything, gives orders and poses with soldiers.
Analysts also touched on the fact that Pyongyang presents the latest launches as tests of the launch units, not the missiles themselves.
“This indicates that these (launch) systems are being deployed,” Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies said on Twitter.
Prior to the North Korean exercises, the United States redeployed the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan to waters east of South Korea. According to KCNA, Pyongyang on Monday criticized the carrier’s presence, saying the US “clearly poses a military threat”.
source: Noticias
