SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (AP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong-un supervised a live-fire artillery drill simulating an attack on a South Korean airfield and called for his troops to be ready to respond to the enemies’ “frantic war preparation moves” – apparently referring to the recent series of military drills between the United States and South Korea.
The North Korean state media report yesterday came a day after South Korea’s military detected the North firing at least one short-range ballistic missile toward the sea from a site near the western coastal city of Nampo.
The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff was assessing whether more missiles may have been launched simultaneously.
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim urged his troops to be prepared to “overwhelmingly respond to and contain” the military action of the North’s enemies, which he said were proceeding with “all sorts of more frantic war preparation moves”.
He said frontline units should sharpen their capabilities to carry out their two main “strategic missions, that is, first to deter war and second to take the initiative in war”.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry yesterday urged North Korea to stop raising tensions with “reckless nuclear and missile programs and military provocations”. Vice-spokesperson Lee Hyo-jung told reporters that North Korea must focus instead on caring for people’s livelihoods and take a path towards building peace on the Korean Peninsula.
The KCNA report did not specify what types of weapons were involved in Thursday’s exercise or how many rockets were fired. Some of the North’s newer short-range weapons targetting South Korea includes large-sized multiple rocket launchers that experts say blur the boundaries between artillery and ballistic missile systems.
North Korea describes some of its more advanced short-range systems as tactical weapons, which implies an intent to arm them with lower-yield battlefield nuclear weapons.
Experts say the North with the wording is communicating a threat to proactively use those weapons during conventional warfare to blunt the stronger conventional forces of South Korea and the United States, which keeps about 28,000 troops in South Korea to help deter potential aggression from North Korea.
Kim’s comments were in line with an escalatory nuclear doctrine the North set into law last year, which authorizes preemptive nuclear strikes in situations where it may perceive its leadership as under threat, including conventional clashes.
Photos published by North Korea’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed at least six rockets being fired from launch vehicles lined up in an unspecified coastal forest area.
Kim watched the firings from an observation post along with military officials and his daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju-ae and around 10 years old.
