Missile launches are simulated strikes – North Korea 

North Korea says its recent missile launches are simulated strikes on South Korea and the United States.

The North’s army said it had conducted activities simulating attacks on air bases and aircraft, as well as a major South Korean city, to “smash the enemies’ persistent war hysteria”.

Last week, North Korea test-fired multiple missiles, including a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and hundreds of artillery shells into the sea, as South Korea and the United States carried out six-day air drills that ended on Saturday.

The North’s military said the “Vigilant Storm” exercises were an “open provocation aimed at intentionally escalating the tension” and “a dangerous war drill of very high aggressive nature“.

The flurry of missile launches included the most ever in a single day and come amid a record year of missile testing by nuclear-armed North Korea.

South Korean and U.S. officials have also said that Pyongyang has made technical preparations to test a nuclear device, the first time it will have done so since 2017.

Also Read: N.Korea launches second hypersonic missile in fiery test

Senior diplomats from the United States, Japan, and South Korea spoke by phone on Sunday and condemned the recent tests, including the “reckless” launch of a missile that landed off South Korea’s coast last week, according to a U.S. State Department statement.

An official at South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday that a South Korean ship had recovered debris believed to be part of that North Korean short-range ballistic missile (SRBM).

The South Korean Navy rescue vessel used an underwater probe to recover the parts, which are being analyzed, the official said.

The North Korean military said it fired two “strategic” cruise missiles on November 2 toward the waters off South Korea’s Ulsan, the south-eastern coastal city housing a nuclear power plant and large factory parks.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has called for the development of both larger nuclear warheads, as well as smaller ones, which could be used in MIRVs or for tactical weapons.

Zainab Sa’id