North Korea tests weapons capable of striking South Korea: ‘huge destructive power’

North Korea said on Monday it conducted a joint live-fire drill involving missiles, artillery and drones that it claimed showed “huge destructive power”.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Saturday’s drill was meant to get familiar with the procedure for the operation of the integrated firepower control system. South Korea’s military earlier said it detected short-range ballistic missile launches from North Korea’s eastern coastal Wonsan area on Saturday morning.

After observing the drill, Marshal Pak Jong-chon said the drill would “improve the level of specialisation to bring down the enemy’s armed forces organisationally and structurally once an order is issued”. He added that the weapons systems mobilised showed “the huge destructive power of concentrated fire”, according to KCNA.

The “joint firepower attack drill” involved five army units and tested several weapon systems, including attack drones, tactical cruise missiles, tactical ballistic missiles, and large-calibre multiple rocket launchers, KCNA said.

It is extremely difficult to independently verify North Korean claims on its weapons tests. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said several missiles fired Saturday each flew about 250km (155 miles) towards North Korea’s eastern waters. The flight distances signal the weapons are designed to strike targets in South Korea.

The firing drill marked North Korea’s first public ballistic missile launches in about three weeks.