INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
North Korea test-fired two suspected ballistic missiles about a week after it failed to put a spy satellite into orbit, in a show of
defiance after the US sent a B-1B strategic bomber to airspace off the peninsula for military drills with South Korea.Two short-range
statement to reporters.North Korea said it retaliated for the dispatch of the bomber and the joint drills that it decried on state media
Thursday morning as a preparation for a nuclear attack
Its missiles were being tested to deliver its own nuclear hit with air bursts at 400 meters (437 yards) above a target island
nuclear assets to the region.Pyongyang has bristled at US-South Korean joint military drills that started on Aug
21 and which run through the end of the month, calling them a prelude to invasion that could spur North Korea into action
The latest launches coincides with the drills and a meeting in mid-August among the leaders of the US, Japan and South Korea where they
regime in the North.The US, Japan and South Korea on Thursday held a joint military drill at sea to practice hunting for missiles from the
likes of North Korea in their first such exercise since the leaders of the three nations that Pyongyang lists as its mortal enemies pledged
to improve their security cooperation.North Korea last week failed for the second time in about three months to put a spy satellite into
eye on US forces.Pyongyang had already fired 26 ballistic missiles and two space rockets so far this year
They included four intercontinental ballistic missiles that could hit the US mainland
Kim has ignored US calls to return to long-stalled nuclear disarmament talks
But he has been busy modernizing his arsenal of missiles and conducting tests of systems to attack South Korea and Japan, which host the
bulk of US military personnel in the region.North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles into waters off its east coast on July
19 after the USS Kentucky stopped in Busan, in the first visit to a port in South Korea in about four decades by a submarine capable of
firing nuclear ballistic missiles
Pyongyang fired two more a few days later when another nuclear-powered US sub arrived at a separate South Korean port to replenish supplies
Those launches came after North Korea in July tested its Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM
It flew longer than any of its other ICBMs and appeared designed to carry a multiple nuclear weapons payload, which increases the chances at
least one bomb could slip past interceptors and make its way to a target.A solid-fuel missile could be deployed quickly and fired with
Liquid-fuel missiles in general take more time to prepare as propellant is added to their tanks, making them vulnerable to attack before
taking off.The US in June sent a nuclear-powered, guided-missile submarine to South Korea for the first time in six years for a show of
force meant to deter North Korea from military strikes
The visit came after Yoon won assurances during a summit with Biden in April to strengthen extended deterrence measures, including more
leader Kim when the US president met with his South Korean counterpart and warned that a nuclear strike by North Korea would be
suicidal.North Korea has demonstrated its missiles could fly as far as the US but there are questions as to whether the warheads would be
able to stay intact to reach such distant targets.
