North Korea Says Missile Launches Were ‘Simulated Strikes’ On U.S., South Korea

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

PYONGYANG (Worthy News) – North Korea said Monday that its recent missile launches were “simulated strikes” on the United States and South Korea.

It added its actions were necessary as the two nations held a “dangerous war drill” while the South said it had recovered parts of a North Korean missile near its coast.

Last week North Korea fired dozens of cruise missiles and hundreds of artillery shells into the sea as well as flying warplanes, triggering evacuation alerts in some South Korean and Japanese areas.

The North’s actions came as South Korea and the United States carried out six-day air drills that ended on Saturday.

North Korea’s military said the “Vigilant Storm” exercises were an “open provocation aimed at intentionally escalating the tension” and “a dangerous war drill of very high aggressive nature.”

The North’s army said it had conducted activities simulating attacks on (U.S.) air bases and aircraft, as well as a major South Korean city, to “smash the enemies’ persistent war hysteria.”

The flurry of missile launches included the most ever in a single day and came amid a record year of missile testing by nuclear-armed North Korea.

However, U.S. and South Korean officials condemned the North’s missile launches, saying their drills were defensive.

South Korean and U.S. officials have also said that Pyongyang has made technical preparations to test a nuclear device, the first time it will have done so since 2017.

Almost 70 years after the end of the Korean war, Communist-run North Korea and democratic South Korea remain divided and technically still at war despite a ceasefire agreement that has often been violated.

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