Kim Jong Un oversees North Korean 'nuclear trigger' counterattack drill

SEOUL, April 23 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided a firing drill of super-large multiple rocket launchers simulating a nuclear counterattack, state media said Tuesday, one day after the South Korean military detected the launch of several short-range ballistic missiles.

The drill was the first test of the North's "Nuclear Trigger" combined management system, state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

Artillery units fired super-large multiple rocket launchers tipped with simulated nuclear warheads and hit a target in the sea 219 miles away, KCNA said. Images released by state media showed at least four rockets being fired from mobile transporter-erector launchers.

Kim praised the firing test results, saying the rocket launchers were as accurate as a "sniper's rifle."

"The drill served as an important occasion in thoroughly preparing our nuclear force to be able to rapidly and correctly carry out their important mission of deterring a war and taking the initiative in a war at any time and in any sudden situation," Kim said, according to the KCNA report.

On Monday, South Korea's military said it detected several short-range ballistic missiles launched from the Pyongyang area, which traveled roughly 186 miles before splashing down in the sea between Korea and Japan.

The United States and South Korea refer to the North's super-large multiple-launch rocket system as the KN-25 and analysts characterize it as a short-range ballistic missile. North Korea has claimed since October 2022 that the weapon can be fitted with a tactical nuclear warhead.

The launch was the latest in a flurry of weapons tests and heated rhetoric from Pyongyang that has kept tensions at their highest in years on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea said it test-fired a "super-large warhead" for a strategic cruise missile and a new anti-aircraft missile on Friday. Earlier this month, Pyongyang launched an intermediate-range solid-fuel ballistic missile with a new hypersonic warhead.

Seoul on Tuesday called the North's claim of its nuclear counterattack capacity "exaggerated."

"There are a lot of things that don't seem true," Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Sung-jun said at a regular press briefing.

"It is known that North Korea has not yet completed a test of a small tactical nuclear weapon," he said.