A series of pictures released by the North’s Rodong Shinmun zooms in on a “strategic map” in front of leader Kim Jong-un, indicating potential target locations including the South’s southernmost port cities of Ulsan and Busan.
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The three ballistic missile tests conducted on Tuesday – ordered and supervised personally by the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un – simulated preventive nuclear strikes on ports and airfields in South Korea whom are U.S. military hardware, KCNA said.
The drills were personally overseen by the reclusive nation’s leader, Kim Jong-un. News notes it’s not clear what date the drills that KCNA is referring to took place, though it appears to be referencing Tuesday’s launch.
Tuesday’s salvo was widely believed to be North Korea’s answer to the July 8 agreement by the US and South Korea to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, known as THAAD, on the divided peninsula to counter the growing missile threat from the North.
North Korea is believed to have around 600 Scud and 200 Rodong missiles.
North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea early Tuesday morning, six days after South Korea and the USA chose to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery here.
The timing is estimated to be around mid-2020 when South Korea will have finished the installation of its locally produced defense systems like its “kill chain” and Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD).
The three reported launches came as North Korea loudly criticized the planned deployment of an advanced us missile defense system in South Korea. “The KPA already solemnly declared that the United States imperialist aggression forces in South Korea are its first strike target”, the spokesman said.
“It examined the operational features of the detonating devices of nuclear warheads mounted on ballistic rockets at the designated altitude over the target area”.
The United States expressed concern for Tuesday’s test firing, saying the launches and other recent tests violated U.N. sanctions forbidding any tests of nuclear or ballistic technology.
Reclusive North Korea occasionally publishes insults of US and South Korean officials.
A source allegedly within the North Korea’s intelligence service said that for 12 minutes, five-digit number segments were read by an announcer making it the first time the country has done so in 16 years.
But North Korea has continued to pump out statements that increase tension on the peninsula, where the two sides remain technically at war, more than 60 years after the Korean war.
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Defense Minister Han Min-koo’s remarks made at the National Assembly policy review session come after speculations that the deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea will invariably lead to the country becoming part of the Washington-led MD system which is seen by some as a move to isolate China.
