A few hours before the start of joint military exercises between Seoul and Washington, Pyongyang made a show of force.

The country launched, on Sunday March 12, two cruise missiles from a submarine, announced the North Korean agency KCNA.

The shooting took place off the coastal city of Sinpo (eastern North Korea), according to KCNA.

The South Korean army, quoted by the Yonhap news agency, said it detected the launch of a single unspecified missile, without giving details.

KCNA says the exercise was successful, with the missiles hitting their designated and unspecified targets off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.

According to the agency, this shot expresses "the invariable position" of North Korea in the face of a situation in which "the American imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces advance in a less and less concealed way in their military maneuvers against the DPRK. ", the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The test firing also served to "verify the current operational posture of nuclear deterrents in different spaces."

A "conspiracy" of the United States

The most important joint maneuvers between South Korea and the United States for five years, "Freedom Shield", begins Monday for at least ten days.

Washington and Seoul have strengthened their defense cooperation in the face of growing military and nuclear threats from North Korea, which has increased weapons tests in recent months.

Training between U.S. and South Korean forces will focus on "the changing security environment" due to North Korea's heightened aggressiveness, the allies said.

Pyongyang, which has nuclear weapons, has warned that such drills could be seen as a "declaration of war".

For North Korea, these are dress rehearsals for an invasion of its territory or an overthrow of its regime.

Pyongyang justifies its own nuclear and ballistic weapons programs by the need to defend itself.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry said the United States was "conspiring" to convene a UN Security Council meeting on human rights in North Korea.

With AFP

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app