North Korea is “close to mounting nuclear warheads on tactical missiles”
- The South Korean minister said the North has made “substantial progress” with its goals.
- It comes as Kim Jong Un led two days of exercises ‘simulating a nuclear counterattack’
North Korea has made “substantial progress” in being able to mount nuclear warheads on tactical nuclear weapons, South Korea’s defense minister has revealed.
Speaking before South Korea’s National Assembly, Lee-Jong Sup said North Korea fired four cruise missiles yesterday in its latest tests.
He admitted that the Kim Jong Un regime has made significant progress in being able to mount nuclear warheads on such weapons, amid growing anxiety in the region.
However, the minister expressed doubt that Pyongyang could minimize its stockpiles of nuclear warheads enough to do so currently. The times reports.
The UN said this week that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is ‘actively pursuing its nuclear weapons programme’.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae watch a missile drill at an undisclosed location
This image, published by the official North Korean news agency, was taken on March 19. It shows a warhead missile launch exercise that “simulates a nuclear counterattack.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un led two days of military exercises that “simulated a nuclear counterattack”, including the launch of a ballistic missile with a simulated nuclear warhead, the state news agency KCNA reported on Monday.
In September last year, the pariah state passed a new law setting out the conditions under which it could use nuclear weapons, including preemptively in certain circumstances.
A UN panel claimed in 2021 that North Korea “had probably developed miniature nuclear devices to fit into the warheads of its ballistic missiles.”
This would mean that it has the ability to attack an American city with its Hwasong-17 intercontinental missile.
The weapons were tested late last week in a defiant show of force by Pyongyang.
North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile into the sea, its neighbors said.
It has been ramping up testing activities in response to US and South Korean military exercises, which are reportedly seen as an invasion rehearsal.
North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile into the sea on Sunday, its neighbors said, ramping up test activities in response to US and South Korean military exercises it views as an invasion rehearsal.
British forces have also joined “high-intensity” military exercises as tensions rise on the peninsula.
The Royal Marines have carried out the air and sea exercises as part of a larger amphibious landing that is said to have prompted North Korea to launch missiles in a show of defiance.
Missiles launched from North Korea’s northwestern region on Sunday flew across the country before landing in waters off the east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
He said the South Korean military has strengthened its surveillance posture and is maintaining a readiness in close coordination with the United States.
