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Monday, December 4, 2023 | 
U.S. & World

North Korea confirms missile tests were simulation to ‘wipe out’ South Korea and U.S. targets

Sources state that North Korea has conducted the most missile tests ever this year

By Ashley Nash
SHARE North Korea confirms missile tests were simulation to ‘wipe out’ South Korea and U.S. targets
A TV screen shows an image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station.

A TV screen shows an image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Monday, Oct. 10, 2022. North Korea said Monday its recent barrage of missile launches were tests of its tactical nuclear weapons to “hit and wipe out” potential South Korean and U.S. targets, state media reported Monday. Leader Kim Jong Un signaled he would conduct more provocative tests in coming weeks.

Ahn Young-joon, Associated Press

A North Korean news agency confirmed that the country’s recent missile launches were meant as a “simulation” of a nuclear attack on South Korea, per BBC.

Key quote: “Through seven times of launching drills of the tactical nuclear operation units, the actual war capabilities ... of the nuclear combat forces ready to hit and wipe out the set objects at any location and any time were displayed to the full,” the Korean Central News Agency said, according to The Associated Press.

Looking back: Last week — for the first time since 2017 — South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that North Korea has launched a total of seven sets of missiles over the course of the last few weeks, according to Al Jazeera.

  • North Korea has carried out 40 missile tests this year, the most ever, BBC reports.
  • These tests have been perceived to be a response to recent drills between the U.S. and South Korean forces.

Details: KCNA said that North Korea believes that the South Korea and U.S. drills pose a military threat. In response, North Korea has decided to stage “the simulation of an actual war,” according to The Associated Press.

  • BBC states that North Korea has “claimed to have successfully simulated hitting South Korea’s military bases, ports and airport, and said the launches were a warning to U.S. and South Korea.”
  • “The U.S. and the South Korean regime’s steady, international and irresponsible acts of escalating the tension will only invite our greater reaction, and we are always and strictly watching the situation crisis,” Kim Jong Un was quoted saying, via The Associated Press.