South Korea confirmed today a live-fire drill had been carried out using an advanced air-launch cruise missile for the first time.
A shocking video shows the German-made Taurus missile crashing into a mock target before exploding into fire and smoke.
Seoul said this sort of military muscle can be used in a pre-emptive strike against North Korea – something which will infuriate North Korea’s notoriously short-tempered leader Kim Jong-un.
The missile has a range of more than 300 miles, putting the hermit state’s capital of Pyongyang well within reach of South Korea’s launch sites.
It comes amid an ever-tightening spiral of threat and counter threat between North Korea and Kim’s Western rivals.
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After a series of provocative nuclear tests and missile launches from the hermit state, South Korea, Japan, America and even North Korea’s historic allies China are accelerating their own military programmes and activities around the peninsula.
Earlier this month America sent hundreds of troops to Japan to take part in joint drills and be on stand-bye for another missile launch.
READ MORE: Will the USA attack North Korea?
Six hundred Alaska-based troops were flown to Japan for the Orient Shield militant drills with Black Hawk helicopters also making the trip for the exercises.
Captain Adam Bowen, a spokesman for 1st Stryker Brigade, said the group were ready to deal with “anything” North Korea throws at them.
He said: “We’re just focused on the mission at hand and making sure we are ready for anything.”
And even China, historically one of North Korea’s closest allies, have increased their war readiness as tensions on the Korean peninsula rise.
China’s air force carried out exercises near the peninsula, practising to defend against a “surprise attack” – presumably from Kim Jong-un, who has openly criticised Beijing on several occasions over the past year.
Chinese state-run media, which effectively acts as a propaganda wing for leader Xi Jinping’s government, said the provocative drills took place near the Bohai Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea which separates China from the Korean peninsula.
Troops travelled to the site from central China before immediately beginning drills to fend off the “surprise attack” simulating real battle.
Chinese press boasted: “The troops rapid response capabilities and actual combat levels have effectively been tested.”
They also said new weapons, used to shoot down airborne missiles, were successfully tested for the first time.