The short-range Scud-type missiles were fired from North Hwanghae province, and travelled about 500km before falling into the Sea of Japan, according to the South Korean defence ministry.
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The moves were a direct response to unilateral sanctions announced by South Korea earlier this week to punish the North for its January nuclear test and last month’s long-range rocket launch, on top of a recently approved United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution that slapped the toughest sanctions on Pyongyang in two decades.
Recent North Korean missile and nuclear weapon tests also have led to more sanctions on the North.
US State Department spokesman John Kirby declined to comment on Kim’s claim to have miniaturised nuclear warheads and accused him of “provocative rhetoric” .
“Both the South and the US have the common position that in conducting any talks with North Korea, denuclearization is the highest priority”, Kim told reporters.
The statement containing the nuclear threats was released by the National Defense Commission of North Korea was published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
North Korea can “range the continental United States” with an intercontinental ballistic missile and it would be prudent to assume Pyongyang can also miniaturize a nuclear warhead to put on an ICBM, the US northern commander said Thursday.
Meanwhile, Cook denounced North Korea’s latest firing of two short-range missiles.
South Korean assets in the North have been in the Kaesong industrial zone.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday voiced grave concern over the growing tensions, and urged North Korea to avoid any further “destabilising acts”.
Pyongyang has long condemned the drills, which stretch over almost two months, as provocative rehearsals for invasion, while Seoul and Washington insist they are purely defensive in nature.
Dr Paik Hak Soon, director of the Centre for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute, said North Korea is retaliating against the exercises by taking an offensive stance.
The drills in Rocket Valley were separate to the annual joint US-South Korean maneuvers which involve about 17,000 US troops and more than 3,00,000 South Koreans.
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The KCNA statement also said “that the first attack target will be South Korea’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, followed by attacking the White House and other targets on the US mainland”, CCTV reported. The South tracked the projectiles and is monitoring the situation, it said.
