INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
North Korea conducted a simulated &scorched-earth& nuclear strike on targets across South Korea, state media reported on Thursday, in
reaction to allied exercises that it said amounted to plans for a preemptive nuclear attack by the United States, Reuters reported.The state
media reports spelled out in unusual detail how the North envisions a potential war, including countering any attack by striking the South
with nuclear weapons, then sweeping in to occupy its territory.&The KPA staged a tactical nuclear strike drill simulating scorched-earth
strikes at major command centers and operational airfields of the ‘ROK& military gangsters on Wednesday night,& the general staff of the
North&s Korean People&s Army (KPA) said in a statement carried by KCNA news agency
ROK is the initials of South Korea&s official name, the Republic of Korea.North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea
on Wednesday, South Korea&s military said, hours after the U.S
deployed B-1B bombers for allied air drills.According to Reuters South Korea&s presidential office convened a security meeting after North
Korea&s late-night launch, which followed its second failed attempt last week to put its first spy satellite into orbit.&These conducts pose
threats to peace and stability of not only our country, but of the region and international community, and cannot be tolerated,& Japanese
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters.Japan will intercept North Korea&s missiles if they fly over Japan&s territory, Japan&s Chief
Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said.Pyongyang has vowed to try launching a satellite again in October
The United States, South Korea and Japan have condemned the space launch as a provocation and violation of U.N
Security Council resolutions banning the North&s use of ballistic missile technology, read the report.The launches late Wednesday came a day
before South Korea and the U.S
were set to wrap up 11 days of combined military drills, which Pyongyang has long denounced as a war rehearsal.North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un on Tuesday observed part of a drill that involved the commanding officers and staff sections of the entire army, aimed at preparing them
for an all-out war with the South, KCNA reported.The drill simulated repelling a sudden invasion, then launching a counter-attack to occupy
&the whole territory of the southern half&, the report said.The simulation included frontline and strategic reserve artillery forces, plans
for forming a front behind the enemy lines, disrupting the entrance of &outside armed forces& into the conflict, and &making simultaneous
super-intense strikes at the pivotal military command centers, military ports, operational airfields and other important enemy military
targets,& KCNA said.&We strongly condemn Kim Jong Un explicitly revealing his intention for a military attack on us using the annual
defensive South Korea-U.S
combined drills as a pretext,& Seoul&s unification ministry handling inter-Korean affairs said in a statement.Kim has been urging his
military to step up war preparedness, criticising leaders of the United States, South Korea and Japan as &gang bosses& who increase the risk
of a nuclear war in the region, Reuters reported.The North&s first missile reached an altitude of 50 km (31 miles) and flew 350 km, while
the second one rose as high as 50 km and flew 400 km, Japan&s defence ministry said.The post North Korea stages nuclear strike drill to
protest allied exercises first appeared on Ariana News.
