North Korea should stop raising tensions
North Korea has gone too far in making nuclear threats to South Korea and the United States. It conducted a series of military drills from Sept. 25 to Oct. 9 in response to combined naval exercises between the South and the U.S., according to the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Marking the 77th anniversary of the establishment of the ruling Workers' Party on Monday, the state media carried different photos of the drills including missile launches with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un overseeing them. What's notable is that the North's military staged "ballistic missile launching drills under the simulation of loading tactical nuclear warheads" according to the KCNA dispatch. The news agency reported that Kim guided exercises by nuclear tactical operation units over the past two weeks, using mock nuclear warheads.
The KCNA said the aim of the drills was to check and assess the "war deterrent and nuclear counterattack capability" in response to the recent Seoul-Washington maritime exercises involving the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan, and its strike group. The North was trying to intensify its nuclear threats against the South and the U.S. while denouncing the defensive combined drills as a rehearsal to invasion.
On Oct. 4, the Kim regime heightened tensions in East Asia by test-firing a new intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) which flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific. The launch, the first of its kind since 2017, was apparently in response to the trilateral naval exercise between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo which was actually held as a countermeasure against the North's escalating missile and nuclear threats.
What's worrisome is that the North is in the process of developing and deploying smaller tactical nuclear warheads for battlefield use which are designed for use on short-range ballistic missiles. Such warheads pose serious security threats to the South as they can hit virtually any target on the southern part of the peninsula. Pyongyang also raised concerns by test-firing a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from a reservoir, an apparent move to evade the missile defense network of the South's military and the U.S. Forces Korea. Besides, the North flew more than 150 warplanes in formation simultaneously in a large-scale air-attack drill Saturday. It was unprecedented for the North to stage such a drill.
Those exercises and the test-firing of mock tactical warheads and an SLBM from a reservoir could be seen as a harbinger of the North's seventh nuclear test. Such moves came after the North's Supreme People's Assembly passed a bill last month that will enable Pyongyang to wage preemptive nuclear strikes.
The Kim regime seems to be using the nuclear program to tighten his grip on power and promote internal unity amid the North's economic hardship. We urge him to stop his nuclear blackmail and return to dialogue. It is regrettable that Kim has dismissed the idea of restarting talks and vowed not to give up his nuclear arsenal. He must keep in mind that his nuclear program will only deepen the North's isolation and aggravate its economic woes.
North Korea has gone too far in making nuclear threats to South Korea and the United States. It conducted a series of military drills from Sept. 25 to Oct. 9 in response to combined naval exercises between the South and the U.S., according to the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Marking the 77th anniversary of the establishment of the ruling Workers' Party on Monday, the state media carried different photos of the drills including missile launches with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un overseeing them. What's notable is that the North's military staged "ballistic missile launching drills under the simulation of loading tactical nuclear warheads" according to the KCNA dispatch. The news agency reported that Kim guided exercises by nuclear tactical operation units over the past two weeks, using mock nuclear warheads.
The KCNA said the aim of the drills was to check and assess the "war deterrent and nuclear counterattack capability" in response to the recent Seoul-Washington maritime exercises involving the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan, and its strike group. The North was trying to intensify its nuclear threats against the South and the U.S. while denouncing the defensive combined drills as a rehearsal to invasion.
On Oct. 4, the Kim regime heightened tensions in East Asia by test-firing a new intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) which flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific. The launch, the first of its kind since 2017, was apparently in response to the trilateral naval exercise between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo which was actually held as a countermeasure against the North's escalating missile and nuclear threats.
What's worrisome is that the North is in the process of developing and deploying smaller tactical nuclear warheads for battlefield use which are designed for use on short-range ballistic missiles. Such warheads pose serious security threats to the South as they can hit virtually any target on the southern part of the peninsula. Pyongyang also raised concerns by test-firing a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from a reservoir, an apparent move to evade the missile defense network of the South's military and the U.S. Forces Korea. Besides, the North flew more than 150 warplanes in formation simultaneously in a large-scale air-attack drill Saturday. It was unprecedented for the North to stage such a drill.
Those exercises and the test-firing of mock tactical warheads and an SLBM from a reservoir could be seen as a harbinger of the North's seventh nuclear test. Such moves came after the North's Supreme People's Assembly passed a bill last month that will enable Pyongyang to wage preemptive nuclear strikes.
The Kim regime seems to be using the nuclear program to tighten his grip on power and promote internal unity amid the North's economic hardship. We urge him to stop his nuclear blackmail and return to dialogue. It is regrettable that Kim has dismissed the idea of restarting talks and vowed not to give up his nuclear arsenal. He must keep in mind that his nuclear program will only deepen the North's isolation and aggravate its economic woes.
![[INTERVIEW] Retired FSC chief finds inspiration exploring Koreans' ancestral roots](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/6642af4d9fed4cae8a8a951eedbbaa6f.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] 'The Flag': Kwon Jin-ah's love letter to people chasing their dreams](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/286500d853334c96ab51e56d74fe38f2.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
