North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised tests of short-range ballistic missile systems that simulated nuclear counterstrikes against U.S. and South Korean forces, state media said Friday, because the North continued accountable its rivals for escalating tensions through their joint military exercises.
The report got here a day after South Korea’s military detected multiple launches from North Korea’s eastern coast and assessed that the tests may be related to the country’s weapons exports to Russia during its war in Ukraine.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday’s tests involved a mobile ballistic missile system apparently modeled after Russia’s Iskander, in addition to 600-millimeter multiple rocket launchers that South Korean officials classify as ballistic resulting from their self-propulsion and guided flight. Each are a part of a growing lineup of weapons systems that the North says might be armed with “tactical” nuclear weapons for battlefield use.
KCNA said the tests were intended to coach military units operating missile and rocket systems to more effectively execute attacks under the North’s nuclear weapons control system and ensure a swift response to a nuclear crisis.
The agency criticized the US and its “vassal states” for expanding joint military exercises on and across the Korean Peninsula, which the North claims are preparations for nuclear war, and said Thursday’s launches demonstrated the “rapid counteraction posture” of its forces.
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Kim stressed the necessity to strengthen the role of his nuclear forces in each deterring and fighting war, and called for continued efforts to enhance combat readiness and precision strike capabilities, KCNA said.
Kim Inae, spokesperson for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, described the newest North Korean launches as a “clear act of provocation” that violates UN Security Council resolutions and poses a serious threat to peace and stability within the region.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have escalated in recent months as North Korean leader Kim continues to speed up the event of his nuclear and missile program and provide weapons and troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.
In a separate report, KCNA said Kim Jong Un visited the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang on Friday to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany and praised the event of “long-standing strategic relations” between the 2 countries.”
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday’s launches involved multiple missiles of assorted types that were fired from an area across the eastern port city of Wonsan from about 8:10 to 9:20 a.m., with the farthest traveling about 800 kilometers (497 miles).
Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs, said in a briefing the North Korean launches were possibly intended to check the performance of weapons it plans to export, because the country continues to send military equipment and troops to fuel Russia’s warfighting against Ukraine.
Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters that not one of the North Korean missiles reached Japan’s exclusive economic zone and there was no damage to vessels or aircraft in the realm.
It was the North’s first known ballistic activity since March 10, when it fired several ballistic missiles hours after U.S. and South Korean troops began an annual combined military exercise, and the country’s sixth launch event of the 12 months.
Thursday’s launch got here a day after North Korean state media said Kim urged munition staff to spice up the production of artillery shells amid his deepening alignment with Moscow.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
