South Korea simulates attack on North’s nuke site after test

SEOUL, South Korea — Following US warnings to North Korea of a “massive military response,” South Korea fires missiles into the sea to simulate an attack on the North’s main nuclear test site, a day after North Korea detonated its largest-ever nuclear test explosion.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry also says that North Korea appeared to be planning a future missile launch, possibly of an ICBM, to show off its claimed ability to target the United States with nuclear weapons, though it was unclear when this might happen.

The heated words from the United States and the military maneuvers in South Korea are becoming familiar responses to North Korea’s rapid, as-yet unchecked pursuit of a viable arsenal of nuclear-tipped missiles that can strike the United States. The most recent, and perhaps most dramatic, advance came Sunday in an underground test of what leader Kim Jong Un’s government claimed was a hydrogen bomb, the North’s sixth nuclear test since 2006.

The United Nations Security Council plans to hold its second emergency meeting about North Korea in a week on Monday to discuss responses to the test.

— AP