Kim Jong Un on Monday asked his army to prepare for nuclear war readiness amid the U.S. and South Korea's "reckless" drills.
What Happened: Kim criticized Seoul's joint military drills with the U.S. involving American nuclear assets and said his army should stand ready to conduct nuclear attacks at any time to deter war, state media KCNA reported.
The North Korean dictator’s comments came as his isolated nation conducted exercises to bolster its “war deterrence and nuclear counterattack capability” over the weekend to send strong warnings to its "enemies."
The country also test-fired a ballistic missile equipped with a mock nuclear warhead that flew 800 km before hitting a target at an altitude of 800m under the scenario of a tactical nuclear attack.
North Korea's supreme leader said the exercises improved Pyongyang's actual war capability and highlighted the need to ensure its readiness posture for any “immediate and overwhelming nuclear counterattack” through such drills.
“The present situation, in which the enemies are getting ever more pronounced in their moves for aggression against the DPRK, urgently requires the DPRK to bolster up its nuclear war deterrence exponentially,” he said.
“The nuclear force of the DPRK will strongly deter, control and manage the enemy’s reckless moves and provocations with its high war readiness and carry out its important mission without hesitation in case of any unwanted situation,” he added.
The state media also released photos of Kim attending the flaring launch of missiles on Sunday with his young daughter.
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