North Korea stages nuclear strike drill to protest allied exercises

FILE PHOTO: Passengers wait for their train in front of a TV broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing a ballistic missile off its east coast, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, July 12, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea conducted a simulated "scorched-earth" nuclear strike on targets across South Korea, state media reported on Thursday, in reaction to allied exercises that it said amounted to plans for a preemptive nuclear attack by the United States.

The state media reports spelled out in unusual detail how the North envisions a potential war, including countering any attack by striking the South with nuclear weapons, then sweeping in to occupy its territory.