North Korea's Leader Guides First Tactical Drill Simulating Nuclear Counterattack - KCNA

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has guided the first combined tactical drill simulating nuclear counterattack with the use of 600 mm "super-large" multiple rocket launchers, North Korean state-run news agency KCNA reported on Tuesday.

The drill held on Monday was aimed at demonstrating the reliability, superiority, might and diverse means of North Korea's nuclear force and strengthening it "both in quality and quantity," the report said, adding that the exercise was "a clear warning signal to the enemies as it was conducted at a time when the enemies' military confrontation racket against the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] is being committed with extremely provocative and aggressive nature."

The report also said that Pyongyang's "super-large" multiple rocket launchers are "to play an important role in substantially strengthening the prompt counterattack capacity of the state nuclear force and raising a war deterrent under the state's nuclear weapon combined management system 'Haekbangashoe.'"

The North Korean leader, accompanied by the country's senior officials, commanded the drill, KCNA reported. The drill was divided into an exercise to familiarize units with the procedure and process of switching over to a nuclear counterattack posture at a time when North Korea's Hwasanpalryong nuclear crisis system is activated, and a drill to operate the nuclear counterattack commanding system, the state media reported.

During the drill, units tasked with a nuclear counterstrike practiced the process and procedure for accomplishing their missions and fired projectiles from "super-large" multiple rocket launchers equipped with simulated nuclear warheads, the report further said.

During the drill, the launchers fired a salvo of missiles toward "the enemy and transparent viewpoint on the principal enemy," hitting an island target within a range of 352 kilometers (219 miles), KCNA reported.

Kim Jong Un expressed "great satisfaction over the result of the drill," appreciated "the high hit and accuracy of the super-large multiple rocket launchers" and said that "he seemed to see the firing of a sniper's rifle and that the Korean-style tactical nuclear strike means boasting of the formidable might, the most powerful in the world, have strictly prepared themselves to faithfully mobilize in carrying out their important strategic task in contingency in a rapid and thorough counterattack posture," the report said.

He also "appreciated with satisfaction" that the drill was successfully conducted and that Pyongyang's plan to build the nuclear force and expand the operational space of a tactical nuclear attack and diversify it "has been translated into reality."