North Korea touts 'huge destructive power' in weekend missile drill — SkimNews
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- North Korea conducted a "live-fire" drill on Saturday involving five army units, which simultaneously tested attack drones, tactical cruise missiles, tactical ballistic missiles, and other weapons systems, according to state news agency KCNA
- South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said several missiles fired during the drill traveled about 250 kilometers (155 miles) into North Korea's eastern waters — distances consistent with weapons designed to strike targets in South Korea, including US military bases
- North Korean Marshal Pak Jong Chon said the drill aimed to "bring down the enemy's armed forces organizationally and structurally" and that the mobilized systems demonstrated "the huge destructive power of concentrated fire"
- The drill came one day after the US, South Korea, and Japan concluded a trilateral military exercise that ended six days earlier than originally scheduled, and that North Korea considers a "provocation"
- Donald Trump had ordered the Pentagon in August to "substantially reduce" the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise with South Korea in what he called an effort to revive diplomacy with Kim Jong Un — a move North Korea rejected, saying shortening the exercise didn't change its "provocative, aggressive nature"
- Kim Jong Un said earlier this year he could return to talks if the US abandons its "hostile policy" and recognizes what he calls North Korea's status as a nuclear state
Why it matters: Trump's August order to scale back joint US-South Korea exercises — sold as a goodwill gesture to revive diplomacy with Kim Jong Un — produced no apparent de-escalation: North Korea responded with a multi-weapon drill whose 250 km missile ranges are calibrated to hit South Korean and US bases there. For Seoul and Washington, the episode confirms that scaled-back exercises bought no goodwill and that Kim's perceived leverage has only grown since his 2018-2019 summits with Trump.
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