According to state media, North Korea’s latest barrage of missile launches was a mock use of its tactical battlefield nuclear weapons to “strike and wipe out” prospective South Korean and American targets as its leader Kim Jong Un hinted he would carry out more provocative tests.
The North’s announcement, made on the 77th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers’ Party, is seen as an effort to enhance Kim’s reputation as a strong leader at home amid pandemic-related hardships while he stubbornly pushes to increase his arsenal of weapons to force greater concessions from its rivals in upcoming negotiations.
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According to the official Korean Central News Agency of the North, “Through seven times of launching drills of the tactical nuclear operation units, the actual war capabilities… of the nuclear combat forces ready to hit and wipe out the set objects at any location and any time were displayed to the full.”
The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan participated in recent naval drills between U.S. and South Korean forces for the first time in five years, according to KCNA, which said the missile tests were in retaliation.
North Korea decided to stage “the simulation of a real war” in response to what it saw as a military threat in the drills in order to test and strengthen its war deterrence and warn its adversaries, according to KCNA.
