Nuke-mad Kim goes ballistic with tests
SEOUL: North Korea’s recent missile tests were “tactical nuclear” drills personally overseen by supreme leader Kim Jong-un, state media said Monday, adding the launches were a response to US-led joint military exercises in the region.
Kim has long wanted to develop tactical nukes – smaller, lighter weapons designed for battlefield use – and made it a top priority at a key party congress in January 2021.
The country revised its nuclear laws last month, envisaging a wide array of scenarios in which it could use its nukes, with Kim declaring North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear power – ending the possibility of denuclearisation talks.
Since then, Seoul, Tokyo and Washington have ramped up their combined naval exercises, including deploying the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagan to the area twice, infuriating Pyongyang, which sees the joint drills as rehearsals for invasion.
In response, North Korea “decided to organise military drills under the simulation of an actual war”, the official KCNA media outlet reported.
North Korean army units involved in “the operation of tactical nukes staged military drills from September 25 to October 9 in order to check and assess the war deterrent and nuclear counterattack capability of the country,” the report said.
“Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and chairman of its Central Military Commission, guided the military drills on the spot,” it added.
KCNA said “tactical nuclear operations units” had conducted seven launching drills that had allowed North Korea’s nuclear forces to display their “militant effectiveness and capabilities”.
North Korea also released multiple photographs of the recent missile launches, tests and exercises, showing Kim overseeing them all, giving orders and posing with smiling soldiers. “They’re pursuing a tactical nuclear weapon for sure,” said US-based security analyst Ankit Panda.