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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and daughter Kim Ju-ae observed drills by North’s tactical nuclear operation units on March 18-19, according to a March 20 report by state-run Korea Central News Agency. (KCNA/Yonhap)

North Korea has once again cranked up its nuclear threat against South Korea. While overseeing a “virtual comprehensive tactical drill for a nuclear counterattack” on Saturday and Sunday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stressed that the North must finalize its “nuclear attack posture.”

It’s deeply concerning to hear the rumblings of war on the Korean Peninsula at the juncture of North Korea’s nuclear threats and large-scale military exercises between South Korea and the US.

The North Korean media announced on Monday that the military had test-launched the KN-23 tactical ballistic missile to mimic a nuclear strike on key targets in South Korea. The missile was detonated in the air, testing the operability of the device controls and detonator.

Pyongyang was effectively claiming that it has confirmed the ability to precisely detonate a nuclear device in the air above a target.

“The present situation [. . .] urgently requires the DPRK to bolster up its nuclear war deterrence exponentially,” Kim said, underlining the need for the North to finalize a “nuclear attack posture for prompt and accurate activation [. . .] to always strike fear into the enemy.”

North Korea’s exercise was apparently prompted by the “Freedom Shield” joint exercise that South Korea and the US are currently holding. They launched large-scale amphibious maneuvers on Monday, an aggressive exercise in which marines and other units are sent ashore to seize target areas.

North Korea intends to keep strengthening its nuclear capabilities and ratcheting up its threats against South Korea. It’s reinforcing its “second strike” capability to achieve the “war deterrence” it announced while enacting legislation on its nuclear use doctrine last September.

There doesn’t appear to be any escape from the perilous situation on the Korean Peninsula.

We’re resolutely opposed to North Korea ratcheting up its provocations and its nuclear threat against South Korea, which has been boosting bilateral military cooperation with the US and trilateral military cooperation with the US and Japan.

North Korea has been seeking to exploit the standoff between South Korea, the US and Japan on one side and North Korea, China and Russia on the other while scheduling an intercontinental ballistic missile launch to coincide with the South Korea-Japan summit.

For its part, the South Korean government has only taken that as a pretext for emphasizing military cooperation with the US and Japan without even considering sophisticated plans for easing tensions and resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.

Both South and North Korea are ratcheting up tensions on the Korean Peninsula and moving down the dangerous path of manning the front lines of the US-China conflict. That’s truly deplorable.

In addition, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is barging ahead in relations with Japan, disregarding public opinion entirely. Koreans’ rage over Yoon’s “humiliating diplomacy” also reflects their concerns that a foreign policy of submitting to the demands of great powers while the world order is in flux could endanger the nation’s future.

Despite all this, Yoon’s presidential office engaged in a ludicrous round of self-congratulations, with an official suggesting that “by this point, we think we’ve succeeded to some extent at getting through to the Japanese.”

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]