North Korea staged a nuclear strike drill on South Korea in protest of the country’s military drills conducted with the United States in the surrounding region, state outlet KCNA reported Thursday.
North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea on Wednesday night in a vision of how the country could eventually launch a nuclear strike against South Korea, according to KCNA. The drill came in response to U.S. and South Korea joint military drills that are being conducted around the region, which North Korea has aggressively denounced since they began. (RELATED: UN Says American Is Being Held In North Korea After Crossing Border)
North Korea’s plan would be to launch a nuclear strike against South Korea and subsequently occupy “the whole territory of the southern half” during the fallout, Reuters reported Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observed military drills on Tuesday that aimed to simulate disruption of international intervention and conduct strike drills against key military command centers in South Korea.
“The United States condemns the DPRK’s August 30 (EDT) ballistic missile launches,” a State Department spokesperson said to the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “We remain committed to a diplomatic approach to the DPRK and call on the DPRK to engage in dialogue.”
“Our commitments to the defense of [South Korea] and Japan remain ironclad,” the spokesperson said.
Pedestrians watch a news update displaying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a day after the country launched a missile that flew over northeastern Japan in October 2022. (Photo by RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP via Getty Images)
Japan said it would intercept future missile launches if the rockets flew over the country’s island, Reuters reported. South Korea’s presidential office assembled a security meeting Wednesday night following the missile launch.
“These [drills] pose threats to peace and stability of not only our country, but of the region and international community, and cannot be tolerated,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters Thursday, according to Reuters.
North Korea failed a second rocket launch attempt that aimed to put a spy satellite in orbit last week. The country’s leadership was unfazed by the failure and vowed to try again in October.
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