<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">North Korea staged a "simulated tactical nuclear attack" drill at the weekend with mock atomic warheads attached to two long-range cruise missiles that were test-fired into the ocean, state-controlled media reported Sunday.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Korean Central News Agency said the operation early Saturday was a "counteraction drill" in response to joint military activity by US and South Korean forces that KCNA said has escalated tensions in the region.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"A firing drill for simulated tactical nuclear attack was conducted at dawn of September 2 to warn the enemies of the actual nuclear war danger," KCNA reported.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Two long-range strategic cruise missiles tipped with mock nuclear warheads were fired" from North Korea's west coast, into the sea to the south, it said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Saturday that an unspecified number of cruise missiles were launched at around 4:00 am (1900 GMT) towards the Yellow Sea, adding the specifications of the missiles were being evaluated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">KCNA said the United States and South Korea were pursuing "confrontation hysteria" with their latest joint military drills.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">North Korea has conducted a record number of weapons tests this year, and last week carried out its second failed attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Seoul and Washington have ramped up defence cooperation in response, staging joint military exercises with advanced stealth jets and US strategic assets.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Tuesday, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un visited a training command post where he detailed future war plans, including "making simultaneous super-intense strikes" at core military posts in the South.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Relations between the two Koreas are at their lowest point in years, and diplomacy is stalled after failed attempts to discuss Pyongyang's denuclearisation. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>