Kim Jong-un leads North Korea’s first nuclear counterattack drill

Drill ‘clear warning signal’ to US and South Korea for staging aerial wargame with 100 aircraft

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un oversaw a salvo of missile launches as the country carried out the first test of its “nuclear trigger” system ahead of meetings between South Korean and American envoys.

Monday’s drill with North Korea’s super-large multiple rocket launchers involved the firing of a barrage of projectiles to fully demonstrate the “matchless might and perfect actual war posture”, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Tuesday.

US and South Korean officials will meet in Hawaii this week for talks on the cost-sharing of hosting American troops in South Korea, the US State Department said on Monday. The deal will take effect in 2026.

It was the first demonstration of the country’s nuclear weapons management and control system called "Haekbangashoe” or "nuclear trigger”, it said. A simulated nuclear counterattack essentially.

Pictures published by state media showed at least four rockets being fired from a manicured lawn that appeared to be a Kim family mansion as the leader watched from an observation post.

The mansion is called Jindallae Guesthouse, in the east of Pyongyang, where a garden-themed long-range missile launchpad was built last year, according to NK Pro news website.

The rockets flew 352km before accurately hitting an island target and the drill verified the reliability of the "system of command, management, control and operation of the whole nuclear force”, KCNA said.

Missiles launched during a simulated nuclear counterattack drill at an undisclosed location (EPA)

South Korea‘s Joint Chiefs of Staff, which detected the tests on Monday, said the weapons flew about 300km before crashing in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The ranges suggested the weapons would likely target sites in South Korea.

Mr Kim expressed great satisfaction with the drill, stating that the multiple rocket launchers were as accurate as a “sniper’s rifle” and that the “Korean-style tactical nuclear strike” was “the most powerful in the world”.

The drill was a “clear warning signal” to the US and South Korea after they staged joint air drills with more than a hundred warplanes. The two countries are conducting a two-week combined aerial exercise which continues through Friday.

Kim Jong-un oversees a virtual nuclear counterattack training exercise with a large rocket artillery unit (Getty)

Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson of South Korea‘s Joint Chiefs of Staff, raised doubts about North Korea’s ability to perfect the designs for small, battlefield nuclear weapons that could fit on its rockets.

He said it could be tests of rockets that North Korea potentially plans to export to Russia amid expanding cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang.

He insisted North Korea was likely exaggerating the accuracy of its multiple rocket launcher systems and that South Korea would be able to detect and intercept such weapons, without elaborating on specific missile defence capabilities.

Seoul is hoping for an agreement to be reached before the US presidential election in November which could return Donald Trump, who has accused South Korea of "free-riding" on US military might, to the White House.

America has stationed more than 28,000 troops in South Korea.