State media said the exercises were designed to boost the country's 'war deterrence and nuclear counterattack capability.'
The North's drills involved a short-range missile launch but - unusually - the missile flew from a buried silo, which analysts say would help improve speed and stability in future tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles .
In the exercises, a ballistic missile equipped with a mock nuclear warhead flew 800 km before hitting a target under the scenario of a tactical nuclear attack, KCNA said. "Until now, North Korea has preferred mobile launchers for everything from SRBMs to even huge ICBMs, but given its poor road and system conditions, it was difficult to guarantee the stability of the missile during actual operations," said Yang Uk, a fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. "The latest launch might possibly serve as a test for future launches of larger missiles like the Hwasong-17 ICBM in a silo.
South Korea and Japan reported a launch of a North Korean short-range ballistic missile off the east coast on Sunday, the latest in a series of missile tests in recent weeks.
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