UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said North Korea’s test-firing of three ballistic missiles was deeply troubling and undermined efforts to reduce tension on the Korean peninsula.
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“The drill was conducted by limiting the firing range under the simulated conditions of making pre-emptive strikes at ports and airfields in the operational theater in South Korea, where the US imperialists’ nuclear war hardware is to be hurled”, North Korea said in an English dispatch carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The launches were the latest in a series of weapons tests North Korea has carried out since Kim in March ordered tests of a nuclear warhead explosion and ballistic missiles capable of carrying such warheads.
Lee Chun-geun, a scientist at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, said that the North Korean missiles were believed to be carrying warheads, which contain trigger devices but not plutonium or uranium, to see whether those warheads could detonate properly.
“But it’s a reminder that they are continuing to pursue nuclear warhead development, and that itself is an escalation of risks for us”, he added.
The National Assembly is holding its second and final Q-and-A session with government officials on the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile defense system, with rival party lawmakers strongly divided over the plan.
The region has been on edge since North Korea announced it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb in January, after a magnitude 5.1 seismic event was detected inside the rogue state.
Late on Tuesday, North Korean state media called U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert a “mentally deranged hooligan” and “a heinous war maniac” for flying in a U.S. fighter jet earlier this month.
“Thaad will be a system for defensive purposes on the Korean Peninsula, which will not be related to sharing information with the USA region’s MD (missile defense) system”, said Han in a heated policy debate between ruling and opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly over the deployment of the Thaad battery in Korea. The North regularly threatens to destroy Japan, South Korea and the South’s main ally, the United States.
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Shin also said analysis of North Korea’s cyberterror networks shows there are at least three organizations in operation.
