Anchor: North Korea said it test-fired two short-range tactical nuclear ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Wednesday night in response to a joint South Korea-U.S. aerial exercise involving a U.S. B-1B strategic bomber earlier in the day. This comes amid the combined annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise between the two countries' armed forces, whom regime leader Kim Jong-un denounced as "military gangsters."
Tom McCarthy has the details.

Report: South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) said on Wednesday night that North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea.

In a text message to reporters following the launch, the JCS said that it detected the missiles fired from the Sunan area in Pyongyang between around 11:40 and 11:50 p.m., later adding that they flew about 360 kilometers before dropping into the sea.

The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) said on Thursday that the launch was a tactical nuclear strike drill carried out to protest a combined air exercise between South Korea and the U.S. involving a U.S. B-1B strategic bomber over the peninsula as part of the allies’ ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield(UFS) training.

Through the statement the regime criticized the exercise as a revelation of the allies’ intent to launch preemptive nuclear attacks against the North, compelling Pyongyang to conduct a simulation on the elimination of South Korea's key command strongholds and airfields.

Another KCNA statement on Thursday said regime leader Kim Jong-un also inspected a command post exercise of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army on Tuesday as well as plans aimed at occupying South Korea. He also received a briefing on the UFS conducted by what he called the "military gangsters" of South Korea and the U.S.

Noting that the annual joint exercise is under way, the JCS said that surveillance and vigilance will be boosted while a firm readiness posture will also be maintained in preparation for additional provocations.

The JCS criticized the provocation for harming peace and stability not only on the Korean Peninsula but in the world as a whole while clearly violating UN Security Council resolutions.
Tom McCarthy, KBS World Radio News.

[Photo : YONHAP News]