‘Smash The Enemies’: North Korea Claims Missile Launches Were Practice For A South Korean Invasion

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North Korea said Monday its recent spate of missile launches served as a practice run for invading South Korea in the future, according to a statement published in state media.

As the U.S. and South Korea conducted their largest-ever joint aerial defense drills, North Korea test-launched a record number of missiles Wednesday, claiming the allies’ military exercises provoked escalation. The communist country said the launches, which included a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test, simulated strikes on South Korean air bases and a major city, to “smash the enemies’ persistent war hysteria” in a statement on state-run KCNA Monday.

North Korea launched four more ballistic missiles into the sea Saturday as U.S. strategic bombers flew over South Korea, demonstrating the allies’ readiness to “sternly respond” to further North Korean provocations, the AP reported.

North Korea called the allies’ Vigilant Storm air drills, intended to run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4, “an open provocation aimed at intentionally escalating the tension in the region and a dangerous war drill of very high aggressive nature directly targeting the DPRK,” using the acronym for the country’s formal name.

The U.S. and South Korea extended the drills through Saturday in response to the historic frequency of North Korean missile launches Wednesday and Thursday.

North Korea fired an ICBM, a missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon long distances, Thursday after a series of short-range missile tests, tallying up a record 29 launches within the space of two days, according to Reuters.

North Korean government spokesperson Pak Jong Chon called the decision to extend the U.S. – South Korea “Vigilant Storm” drills beyond their scheduled end date on Nov. 4 “a very dangerous and false choice” in a statement, threatening further retaliation.

North Korea’s foreign ministry criticized the aerial drills, which began Monday, as a rehearsal for a potential invasion and indicative of dangerous escalation in tensions between the communist country and its southern democratic neighbor, the AP reported.

North Korea’s military exercises “are a clear answer of the DPRK that the more persistently the enemies’ provocative military moves continue, the more thoroughly and mercilessly the KPA will counter them,” North Korea said in the statement. “This is the principle and direction of action of the DPRK’s armed forces in the future, too.”

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