Kim orders advanced military maneuvers
The North Korean leader ordered his military to step up military maneuvers for “real war” during a missile-firing exercise attended by his daughter.
Kim Jong Un and his daughter on March 9, 2023.
AFP
Kim Jong Un said North Korea should “continue to intensify various real war simulation exercises, in a diversified manner and under different circumstances,” the official KCNA news agency reported on Friday.
In addition, the North Korean leader, who oversaw a new military drill, “ordered soldiers to prepare for two strategic missions: first, to prevent war, and second, to start war.”
Footage released by KCNA on Friday showed a Hwasong unit trained for “strike missions” launching six missiles simultaneously, the agency said, adding that the unit “launched a powerful salvo (missiles) at target waters in the West Korean Sea.” “.
Earlier in the day, South Korea’s military announced it had detected a short-range ballistic missile launched from its west coast toward the sea, fired from the port city of Nampo, south of Pyongyang. The military exercise comes as Seoul and Washington prepare to hold their biggest joint military exercises in five years on Monday.
Earlier this week, North Korea accused the US of “deliberately” stoking tensions and Kim Jong Un’s most powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, warned that if the US intercepted one of the missiles from Pyongyang, it would be a blow. “Declaration of War”. Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have been at a low ebb for years, with talks at a standstill.
Attack air bases
During this military exercise, the North Korean leader appeared with his daughter Ju Ae, who is considered by some analysts to be the future heir to the regime. His recent appearance with his father last month at a massive military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the country’s military has already fueled speculation about a future dynastic handover of power in North Korea.
“The presence of the Ju-A at major events related to the North’s nuclear development and its missiles — which Pyongyang deems highly beneficial to the country’s future generations — has become routine,” he said. Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.
North Korea has long claimed its ballistic and nuclear programs are self-defense. He has condemned recent joint exercises by Seoul and Washington, which he sees as dress rehearsals for an invasion of his territory.
North Korea’s air force is the weakest link in its military apparatus, experts say, and Thursday’s drills in Pyongyang are evidence that the regime is trying to fill this weakness. “North Korea’s latest maneuvers, like many previous ones, are aimed at preventing South Korean warplanes from taking off,” defector Ahn Chan-il, director of the institute, told AFP. The World of North Korean Studies.
AFP
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