North Korea: Kim Jong-un simulated ‘nuclear counterattack’

North Korea conducted a “nuclear counterattack” exercise in the presence of leader Kim Jong-un over the weekend to send “an even stronger warning” to the maneuvers in Seoul and Washington, North Korean media reported on Monday. more in the escalation of tensions on the peninsula.

“On March 18 and 19, combined-arms tactical exercises were held aimed at significantly strengthening the country’s capabilities for deterring war and nuclear counteroffensive,” the state news agency KTAK reported.

The exercise, simulating a “nuclear counterattack by units armed with tactical nuclear weapons,” took place in a tense environment as US and South Korean allied forces feverishly intensify large-scale combat exercises to invade People’s Republic of Korea (the official name of the North) and large US strategic nuclear resources are being transferred to South Korea, ”added the KCNA.

Last Sunday, two Pentagon strategic bombers conducted exercises with American and South Korean fighters over the peninsula as part of the Freedom Shield combined spring maneuvers and after North Korea launched an ICBM on Thursday and another short-range missile on Sunday.

“The exercise was also intended to demonstrate our strong willingness to give a real military response and send an even stronger warning to an enemy that is expanding its military exercises for aggression,” KCNA added.

North Korea He has repeatedly warned that he will give a forceful response to the Freedom Shield exercise, which began on March 13 and will last until the 23rd.

“Blown With Precision”

The KCNA explained that the two-day maneuvers were divided “into a nuclear attack control system exercise”, the purpose of which was to train the units involved “to adopt a nuclear counterattack stance”, and then into “a tactical ballistic missile launch exercise”. with an imitation of a nuclear warhead”, which took place on Sunday.

The rocket, whose launch was detected yesterday by the South Korean army, was launched from North Pyongyang, near the Sohe cosmodrome (northwest of the country), and “exactly exploded at an altitude of 800 meters,” which coincided with a simulated target set up in the Yellow Sea.

This “once again demonstrates the reliability of the operation of nuclear explosion control devices and detonators mounted on a nuclear warhead,” the North Korean state agency said in a statement.

According to expert estimates based on released images of the launch, the rocket appears to have been launched from a silo built on the southeastern edge of the Sohae space complex.

Leader Kim Chen Inwhose photos released by KCNA show him watching the exercises with his daughter, said he was very pleased with the results.

In photographs released by the KCNA and also broadcast as a still image on the KCTV network, a North Korean officer also appears next to Kim Chen In whose face is deliberately blurred so that it cannot be recognized.

The man also wears a mask and sunglasses, possibly intended to prevent identification and to avoid being listed as financially sanctioned for his links to the North Korean nuclear and missile program. (EFE)