North slams air drills, conducts 'simulated tactical nuclear attack'

North Korea said Sunday it conducted a drill for a "simulated tactical nuclear attack" the previous day as it denounced joint military exercises between the South and the United States.

North Korea launches a “strategic” cruise missile toward the Yellow Sea on Saturday, as seen in a photo released by its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday, which claimed Pyongyang successfully conducted a drill for a ″simulated tactical nuclear attack.” [YONHAP]

North Korea said Sunday it conducted a drill for a "simulated tactical nuclear attack" the previous day as it denounced joint military exercises between the South and the United States.

On Saturday, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that North Korea launched several cruise missiles toward the Yellow Sea at around 4 a.m. without providing further details.

"A firing drill for simulated tactical nuclear attack was conducted at dawn of Sept. 2 to warn the enemies of the actual nuclear war danger," the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Sunday.

It added in the English-language report that "two long-range strategic cruise missiles tipped with mock nuclear warheads were fired in an actual war environment according to rapid approval procedures."

A missile sub-unit "fired the long-range strategic cruise missiles toward the West Sea of Korea from the mouth of the River Chongchon," according to the report.

The KCNA claimed that the missile unit "successfully carried out its nuclear strike mission" with missiles flying along a figure eight flight track pattern. The missiles reportedly flew a distance of 1,500 kilometers for 7,672 and 7,681 seconds, respectively, and their "warheads detonated at a preset altitude of 150 meters above the target island."

This comes after Seoul and Washington wrapped up their 11-day annual summertime exercise, the Ulchi Freedom Shield, on Thursday.

The Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party "issued an order to conduct a relevant military drill to fully demonstrate the action will and capability to deter the enemies' attempts for a war of aggression," according to the KNCA.

It added that ahead of the drill, "there was an inspection of the procedures for authenticating the nuclear attack order and the rapid operation normality of the technical and mechanical devices of the launch approval system."

North Korea further slammed the latest combined air drills between the South and the United States as part of the UFS exercise, which involved at least one U.S. B-1B strategic bomber and fighter jets.

The KCNA said that the allies conducted "a joint guided missile firing and aerial bombing drill involving tens of different fighters" to "continuously escalate tensions and more openly reveal their military confrontation scheme against the DPRK," referring to the North by the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"The nuclear force of the DPRK will bolster up its responsible combat counteraction posture in every way to deter war and preserve peace and stability," it added.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects the Pukjung Machine Complex, a major shipbuilding manufacturing facility in North Pyongan Province, in photos released by its official Rodong Shinmun on Sunday. [YONHAP]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected the Pukjung Machine Complex, a key shipbuilding manufacturing facility in North Pyongan Province, and a major munitions factory at an undisclosed location, according to a separate KCNA Sunday.

Kim affirmed that a future plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' party "would set forth an important line of the modernization of the complex and the development orientation of the shipbuilding industry of the country" at the complex.

Inspecting the munitions factory, Kim "expressed satisfaction over the progress made in the technical updating of the factory" and indicated intentions of "establishing additional production capacity."

South Korean military officials in turn expressed Sunday that North Korea's claims that it had successfully carried out a simulated tactical nuclear strike drill could have been "exaggerated."

The KCNA on Sunday released photos of the flight and mid-air explosion of one of the two missiles.

When a weapon system test is successful, North Korea's state-run media will usually heavily report it with multiple photos, but officials pointed out that if Pyongyang had to hide the photos of one of the two missiles fired, it may have failed or had information it didn't want to disclose.

On Saturday, South Korea's National Security Council (NSC), led by Lim Jong-deuk, the second deputy national security adviser, held an emergency meeting to discuss readiness posture after the North's latest cruise missile launches.

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea last Thursday.

On Aug. 24, North Korea admitted its second attempt to launch a spy satellite from the Sohae satellite launching station in Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, ended in failure. The South Korean military is still in the process of retrieving the debris from the ocean.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]