North Korea fires missiles, flies fighter jets near border

North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile in another show of force that the US has warned could culminate in a nuclear test.

North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile, conducted an artillery barrage and flew fighter jets close to the South’s border on Friday in another show of force that the US has warned could culminate in a nuclear test.

Pyongyang has dramatically ramped up missile launches and military exercises in recent weeks, which it now describes as “tactical nuke” drills, as Seoul and Washington say North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is close to conducting what would be his country’s seventh nuclear test.

North Korea’s military said in a rare statement its latest actions came in response to a “provocative” South Korean artillery exercise near the border.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversaries of the founding of Mangyongdae Revolutionary School and Kang Pan Sok Revolutionary School. Picture: KCNA VIA KNS / AFP/

The Korean People’s Army “took strong military countermeasures”, according to a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency early on Friday.

Pyongyang issued “a stern warning to the South Korean military inciting military tension in the frontline area with reckless action,” said the statement.

South Korea’s military said it had detected the ballistic missile launch from the Sunan area in Pyongyang early on Friday, just hours after Pyongyang flew 10 fighter jets close to the inter-Korean border.

The North Korean jets crossed a Seoul-set “reconnaissance line”, which triggers an automatic operational response. Seoul then scrambled military aircraft, including F-35A fighter jets, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

North Korea also fired 170 artillery shots into waters off its east and west coasts, violating a maritime “buffer zone” agreed in a 2018 deal, the JCS said.

Seoul’s National Security Council condemned what it described as a barrage of “hostile actions” overnight, warning in a statement that “such provocations will bring consequences”.

A TV shows a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test. Picture: AFP

The South also imposed its first unilateral sanctions in five years on Friday, targeting North Korean individuals and institutions.

The US condemned the launch of another ballistic missile, saying that it — like the many other recent launches — was in violation of multiple UN sanctions. “We continue to seek serious and sustained dialogue with the DPRK, but the DPRK refuses to engage,” a State Department spokesperson said, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

MISSILE TESTS SIMULATE NUCLEAR ATTACK

North Korea’s recent missile tests involved “tactical nuclear” drills to simulate hitting South Korea, and were overseen by leader Kim Jong-un in response to US-led joint military exercises in the region, state media confirmed on Monday.

Kim made acquiring tactical nukes a top priority at a key party congress in January 2021, and this year vowed to develop North Korea’s nuclear forces at the fastest possible speed.

The country revised its nuclear laws last month to allow pre-emptive strikes, with Kim declaring North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear power – effectively ending the possibility of negotiations over its arsenal.

North Korea's recent missile tests were "tactical nuclear" drills personally overseen by leader Kim Jong-un, state media said, adding the launches were a response to US-led joint military exercises in the region. Picture: AFP

Since then, Seoul, Tokyo and Washington have ramped up combined military exercises, including deploying a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier to the area twice, infuriating Pyongyang, which sees such drills as rehearsals for invasion.

In response, North Korea “decided to organise military drills under the simulation of an actual war” that gamed out hitting South Korea’s ports, airports and military command facilities, the Korean Central News Agency said.

This picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency shows the North Korean People's Army frontline long-range artillery division and air force squadron during a fire attack training exercise, at an undisclosed location. Picture: AFP

North Korean army units involved in “the operation of tactical nukes staged military drills from September 25 to October 9 in order to check and assess the war deterrent and nuclear counter-attack capability,” the report said.

Kim “guided the military drills on the spot,” KCNA said, with images released by state media showing him clad in a white shirt, cheerfully giving instructions to uniformed soldiers.

Kim, who was also shown watching missiles soaring into the sky trailing columns of fire, dismissed the idea of restarting talks, saying North Korea “felt no necessity to do so,” KCNA reported.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un (C) attending as the North Korean People's Army frontline long-range artillery division and air force squadron. Picture: AFP

The report also said that North Korea’s October 4 missile launch, which flew over Japan and prompted rare evacuation warnings, involved a “new-type ground-to-ground intermediate-range ballistic missile”.

That test – for which state media images showed Kim observing the missile flight data – aimed to “send more powerful and clear warning to the enemies”.

North Korea’s recent missile tests were designed to send “clear warning” to enemies. Picture: KCNA / AFP / South Korea OUT

In addition to the array of “tactical nuclear” drills, North Korea said it had carried out “a large-scale combined air-attack drill”, which was also overseen by Kim.

KCNA said this involved “more than 150 fighter planes” but analysts dismissed this as domestic propaganda, and Seoul said last week it had only detected 12 North Korean warplanes flying in formation.

North Korea's recent missile tests were "tactical nuclear" drills personally overseen by leader Kim Jong-un, and part of a ramping up of military might. Picture: KCNA / AFP

“The fears of a nuclear war in Ukraine are no longer someone else’s concern,” Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University, told AFP.

“We need to take more seriously the fact that the possibility of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula has increased.”

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un (C) posing as the North Korean People's Army frontline long-range artillery division and air force squadron conduct a fire attack training exercise, at an undisclosed location. Picture: AFP

The volley of KCNA statements about its recent tests – which are unusual, as state media no longer routinely comments on launches – indicates Pyongyang is concerned about the recent US-led joint drills, analysts said.

“To strengthen its self-proclaimed deterrent, it is making explicit the nuclear threat behind its recent missile launches,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

“The KCNA report may also be a harbinger of a forthcoming nuclear test for the kind of tactical warhead that would arm the units Kim visited in the field,” he added.

Officials in Washington and Seoul have been warning for months that North Korea has completed preparations for another nuclear test – which would be the country’s seventh, and first since 2017.

Originally published as North Korea fires missiles, flies fighter jets near border