North Korea says 18-missile salvo was warning to South - VIDEO

North Korea conducted a major missile salvo launch of 18 rockets at the same time on Thursday as a warning to South Korea, according to state media, emphasizing this demonstrates a resolve to carry out preemptive strikes.

Leader Kim Jong Un guided the test, the Rodong Sinmun reported on Friday, with photos showing it involved the 600mm multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) — a system Pyongyang says can be fitted with nuclear warheads.

The report said the launch was in response to the “Republic of Korea gangster regime and its puppet army staging a clumsy counteraction of dangerous armed demonstration against the exercise of legitimate sovereign right of the DPRK.”

It added that South Korea committed unspecified “diabolical acts violating our national sovereignty,” possibly in reference to a series of accusations the DPRK’s vice defense minister made on Sunday about recent U.S. and South Korean military activities.

The minister warned that the military was authorized to take “offensive action” against “encroachments” on national sovereignty, mentioning recent enemy air reconnaissance activities and naval vessels “crossing our maritime border.”

North Korea also launched hundreds of balloons toward South Korea carrying trash and feces on Tuesday in retaliation for leaflets flown north by ROK-based activists, following through with a plan announced by the vice defense minister.

The latest missile test “clearly demonstrates” Kim Jong Un’s “response capability to conduct even a preemptive strike” on South Korea, according to Friday’s report. The North’s new nuclear doctrine states it can conduct a preemptive nuclear strike if the leadership determines an enemy attack is imminent.

Kim reportedly said at the test site that “preemptive attack forces” are maintaining a “prompt and thorough counter-attack posture” in order to “deter a war and defend sovereignty.”

He added that the salvo launch “will serve as an occasion in clearly showing what consequences our rivals will face if they provoke us.”

News.Az