Tensions continue to escalate between the two Koreas. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un conducted two-day military exercises “simulating a nuclear counterattack” and including a ballistic missile launch, the North Korean state news agency KCNA reported Monday in Seoul. “The missile was fitted with a warhead simulating a nuclear warhead,” KCNA said.
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After this weekend of exercises, Kim Jong-un expressed his “satisfaction”. It was Pyongyang’s fourth show of force in a week as Seoul and Washington conduct their largest joint military drills in five years.
North Korea views all such exercises as rehearsals for an invasion of its territory and has repeatedly warned that it will respond to them in an “overwhelming” manner.
Second ICBM test in 2023
On Thursday, Pyongyang fired its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the most powerful in its arsenal, in the presence of leader Kim Jong-un and his daughter, and just before a visit to Japan by the southern president. -Korean Yoon Suk Yeol.
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Cold for years due to a historic dispute, the two neighbors have resumed language at the highest level and decided to present a united front against North Korea.
It was Pyongyang’s second ICBM test this year, which KCNA said at the time was a response to “frenzied” military exercises by South Korea and the United States. The firing itself came after the launch Tuesday of two short-range ballistic missiles and, on March 12, two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine.