The massive drills – which include air strike exercises targeting key facilities in the North – are a “thrice-cursed provocation” against North Korea’s leadership, the CPRK said, according to the KCNA news agency.
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According to Kim Jong Un, the successful test will help boost the power of North Korea’s ballistic missiles.
The North is angered by annual ongoing joint U.S.-South Korea military drills.
The North also fired six MRL rockets into the East Sea on March 3 and two Scud missiles on March 10, bringing the total to 15 this month.
South Korea and the USA have also been in formal talks to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system called THAAD to the Korean Peninsula, raising worries in China.
If North Korea is developing a solid propellant engine, it means it is developing shorter-range missiles, which presents a “serious problem”, Lee said.
“In this regard our military, along with intelligence authorities in South Korea and the United States, are thoroughly monitoring such movements”, said ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Gyun.
The re-entry vehicle is considered one of the last major technologies North Korea must master to develop long-range missiles equipped with nuclear weapons capable of reaching the USA mainland.
The United States expressed a willingness to support the Chinese request after Beijing said it would ensure the ships were in compliance with the U.N. sanctions regime. North Korea has carried out nuclear tests in 2006, 2006, 2013 and in January 2016.
This comes during a period of heightened tension between North Korea, South Korea and many other western nations who see North Korea as both volatile as well as hostile towards other nations.
It was attempting to determine whether the projectiles were missiles, artillery or rockets.
They were the first medium-range launches for two years and followed an order from Kim Jong-Un for his military to prepare a series of missile launches as well as an eventual nuclear warhead explosion test.
The North said Wednesday that it is ready to turn President Park Geun-hye and her office into “a sea of flames and ashes”, with its large-caliber multiple rocket launching system.
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NK News previously reported the truck used for the launchers came from China, but the spokesperson of the MND declined to confirm its origin, simply saying it might have entered North Korea before the sanctions.
