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Kim Jong-un personally led military exercises of strategic nuclear forces and missile tests in order to assess North Korea’s capabilities to deter the enemy. The leader of the DPRK led exercises that took place from September 25 to October 9 on the field. Also on October 6 and 8, he supervised the training of long-range artillery and aviation.
On October 4, Kim Jong-un watches the launch of a Hwasong-12 ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. The estimated launch range was 4560 km.
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The purpose of the exercises was to confirm the procedure for the launch of tactical nuclear warheads and their transportation, as well as their rapid and safe management during an operation. The drills were aimed at “checking the reliability of the entire control system; the units trained skill of firing of ballistic missile,” the Korean Central Telegraph Agency reported.
The military manoeuvres took place the arrival of the US Navy strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in the area of the Korean peninsula in order to participate in joint maneuvers with South Korea and Japan.
“In such unavoidable circumstances, the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea … decided to organize combat exercises in imitation of a real war at different levels in order to test and increase the reliability and combat power of deterrence and send a warning to the enemies about a decisive military response.”
Korean media also quoted Kim Jong-un as saying that “there is nothing to talk about with the enemies.”
