As its leader Kim Jong Un hinted he would conduct more provocative tests, North Korea's recent barrage of missile launches were tests of its tactical nuclear weapons to "hit and wipe out" potential South Korean and American targets, according to state media on Monday.

The North's announcement, made on the 77th birthday of its ruling Workers' Party, is seen as an effort to strengthen public support for Kim as he deals with a number of challenges, including economic hardships brought on by the pandemic, a security threat from the strengthened U.S.-South Korean military alliance, and other issues.

According to the official Korean Central News Agency of the North, "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 nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan participated in recent naval drills between U.S. and South Korean forces for the first time in five years, according to KCNA, which claimed the missile tests were in retaliation.

North Korea decided to stage "the simulation of an actual war" in response to what it saw as a military threat in the drills in order to test and strengthen its war deterrence and warn its adversaries, according to KCNA.

North Korea views joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea as a practise for an invasion, despite the allies' insistence that they are defensive in nature. The U.S. and South Korean militaries have been increasing their exercises since the inauguration of a conservative government in Seoul in May. Previously, these exercises had been scaled back due to the pandemic and the now-dormant nuclear diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington.

A nuclear-capable ballistic missile was among the launches, which were all overseen by Kim, along with other ballistic missiles intended to target South Korean airfields, ports, and command centres as well as a brand-new ground-to-ground ballistic missile that flew over Japan, according to KCNA.

Off its east coast, North Korea has previously used a submarine to test-fire missiles. The most recent, however, was its first open test of a weapon from beneath an inland reservoir.


Professor Kim Dong-yub of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies believes North Korea intends to diversify its launch sites in order to make it more challenging for its adversaries to anticipate the launch of its missiles and launch preemptive strikes.

According to KCNA, North Korean authorities verified the accuracy of the missile's apparent dummy warhead exploding at the predetermined altitude when the weapon fired from the reservoir was flying above the sea target.

The professor Kim claimed that the missile's estimated 600-kilometer (370-mile) flight distance suggested that the launch may have been a nuclear weapon explosion test over Busan, a port city in southeast South Korea where the Reagan had previously docked. He claimed that the missile that was tested appeared to be a new iteration of North Korea's KN-23 missile, a highly manoeuvrable weapon based on the Iskander missile developed by Russia.

The missile that passed over Japan was described by North Korea as an advanced, intermediate-range weapon that travelled 4,500 kilometres (2,800 miles). Prior to now, some foreign experts claimed that North Korea had probably tested its Hwasong-12 nuclear-capable missile, which can reach the American territory of Guam in the Pacific. The missile, however, appeared to be an upgraded version of the Hwasong-12 with a distant target like, according to Kim, the professor.Hawaii or Alaska.

Concerns about North Korea's nuclear programme have increased recently as the nation passed a new law authorising the use of its bombs as a first line of defence in specific circumstances and is rumoured to have started deploying tactical nuclear weapons along its frontline border with South Korea.

With more than 40 ballistic and cruise missiles, North Korea has also conducted a record number of weapons tests this year.


According to some experts, Kim Jong Un will eventually try to use his sophisticated nuclear arsenal to convince the United States to recognise North Korea as a legitimate nuclear state, which Kim believes is necessary to have the crippling U.N. sanctions against his nation lifted.

The most recent launches, according to Kim Jong Un, were "obvious warnings" to South Korea and the US about North Korea's nuclear response posture and attack capabilities. According to KCNA, Kim reiterated that he prefers to concentrate on building up his arsenal over resuming the disarmament diplomacy with the United States at this time.

According to KCNA, "We are always and strictly watching the situation crisis and the U.S. and the South Korean regime's steady, intentional and irresponsible acts of escalating the tension will only invite our greater reaction."

The North's military's nuclear combat forces will continue to maintain "their strongest nuclear response posture and further strengthen it in every way," according to Kim, in order to carry out their responsibility of defending the North's honour and sovereign rights.

Officials from South Korea recently stated that North Korea is still prepared to conduct its seventh nuclear test, which would be the country's first in five years, and that it is also getting ready to test a new liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile and a submarine-launched ballistic missile.

Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, stated that North Korea "has multiple motivations for publishing a high-profile missile story now." Kim Jong Un's return to public life after a month-long absence makes for a patriotic headline to commemorate the Workers' Party's founding anniversary.

Pyongyang is making the nuclear threat behind its recent missile launches explicit in an effort to bolster its self-declared deterrent in response to military drills by the US, South Korea, and Japan. The KCNA report might also portend a future nuclear test of a tactical warhead that would arm the units Kim visited in the field, according to Easley.