N Korean nuke may target South

SEOUL, June 23 (AP): North Korea discussed assigning additional duties to its frontline army units at a key military meeting, state media said Thursday, a suggestion the country may want to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons targeting South Korea along the rivals' tense border.

The discussion comes as South Korea officials said North Korea has finished preparation for its first nuclear test in five years as part of its possible efforts to build a warhead to be mounted on short-range weapons capable of hitting targets in South Korea.

During an ongoing meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party on Wednesday, leader Kim Jong Un and other top military officers discussed "the work of additionally confirming the operation duties of the frontline units of the Korean People's Army and modifying the operation plans," according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Kim also ordered steps to be taken to "enhance the operational capabilities of the frontline units," KCNA said. A KCNA photo showed what appeared to be a big map of the Korean Peninsula's eastern coast including border sites standing near the conference table.

"I can assess the issue of forward-deploying tactical nuclear weapons were discussed at the meeting in an in-depth manner," said Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior analyst at South Korea's private Sejong Institute.

Kim Jun-rak, a spokesperson for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters later Thursday that it's closely monitoring related North Korean activities but didn't elaborate.

In April, when North Korea test-fired a new type of tactical guided weapon," it said the weapon has "great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the front-line long-range artillery units, enhancing the efficiency in the operation of (North Korea's) tactical nukes and diversification of their firepower missions."

Its use of the words "tactical nukes" suggested the weapon is likely a short-range weapons system armed with a nuclear warhead. Some experts said at the time that North Korea intended to deploy such weapons threatening key facilitates in South Korea, including U.S. military bases there.

Later in April, Kim said North Korea could preemptively use its nuclear weapons if threatened, saying his nukes would "never be confined to the single mission of war deterrent" in situations where the North faces external threats to its "fundamental interests." The possibility of North Korea having an escalatory nuclear doctrine could pose greater concern for South Korea, Japan and the United States.