The calm only lasted a few days. After firing two short-range ballistic missiles on Monday and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) 48 hours earlier, North Korea conducted four test cruise missile launches into the sea, it said on Friday. February 24, North Korea's official KCNA news agency. At the same time, the delegations of the United States and South Korea announced that they had conducted, in Washington, a simulation exercise of a nuclear conflict with Pyongyang.
The four North Korean "Hwasal-2" missiles were fired Thursday from the vicinity of Kimchaek City in North Hamgyong Province towards the East Sea, also known as the from Japan. They followed a trajectory of 2,000 km before hitting their targets "accurately", according to the official agency, which did not specify which targets were aimed.
"The Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea has expressed great satisfaction with the results of the launch exercise," the North Korean media added. "The exercise clearly demonstrated once again the war posture of the DPRK's [Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea] nuclear combat force, enhancing its counterattack capabilities in the face of hostile forces," the agency said.
Visit to an American submarine base
These missile tests were in response to joint military exercises between South Korea, Japan and the United States in the Sea of Japan on Wednesday. In addition, Washington and Seoul also expanded their collaboration that same day during new simulations carried out in the American capital.
"Given North Korea's recent aggressive nuclear policy and advances in its nuclear capabilities, the (…) scenario [of the simulation] focused on the possibility of North Korea using nuclear weapons," they said. they explained in a joint statement.
The United States and South Korean delegations, made up of military personnel and officials from the ministries of defense and foreign affairs of both countries, conducted this simulation at the Pentagon and "focused their discussions on the deterrent force of their alliance (…) and on potential responses to the use of nuclear weapons” by North Korea.
Both Washington and Seoul have reaffirmed that they are "ready to respond to nuclear threats" from Pyongyang. The delegations that participated in this tabletop exercise then visited a submarine base in the US state of Georgia on Thursday.
Pyongyang promises 'countermeasures'
The United States has recently sought to reassure South Korea of its expanded deterrent capability to its allies, after North Korea declared in September that its status as a nuclear state was now "irreversible".
In a statement released on Monday, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned that Pyongyang would continue to monitor moves by Washington and Seoul to deploy more US strategic assets in the region, promising "corresponding countermeasures" to each perceived threat.
Pyongyang also conducted a series of ballistic and missile tests in violation of United Nations resolutions, and flew five drones across the border with South Korea on December 26, the first in five years, prompting Seoul to send troops there. fighter planes.
