Over the past few months, relations have become strained between the two capitals of the Korean peninsula. Pyongyang multiplies missile launches.
By BL with AFP
© STR / KCNA VIA KNS / AFP
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LNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday (March 10th) ordered his army to intensify its military maneuvers for “real war”, during a missile firing exercise attended by his daughter, according to the official press agency. North Korea should “regularly intensify the various real war simulation exercises, in a diverse way and in different situations,” Kim Jong-un said, according to KCNA.
In addition, the North Korean leader, who oversaw a new military exercise, ordered soldiers to prepare for “two strategic missions: first, to deter war, and second, to initiate war.” Footage released Friday by KCNA showed the simultaneous launch of six missiles by the Hwasong unit, trained for “strike missions”, the agency said, adding that the unit “fired a powerful salvo (of missiles) on the targeted waters of the West Korean Sea”.
The day before, the South Korean army announced that it had detected the launch of a short-range ballistic missile towards the sea off its west coast, fired from the port city of Nampo, south of Pyongyang.
The military exercise comes as Seoul and Washington prepare to conduct their largest joint military exercises in five years on Monday.
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Stalled relations between the two Koreas
Earlier this week, North Korea accused the United States of “intentionally” stoking tensions and Kim Yo-jong, the very powerful sister of Kim Jong-un, warned that if the United States intercepted a missile tests from Pyongyang, this would be seen as a “declaration of war”. Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul are at a multi-year low, with talks stalled.
During this military training, the North Korean leader appeared accompanied by his daughter Ju Ae, considered by some analysts to be the future heiress of the regime. Her recent appearance alongside her father at a major military parade last month, to mark the 75e anniversary of the founding of the country’s army, had already revived speculation about a future transfer of dynastic power in North Korea.
“It would seem that Ju Ae’s presence at major events related to the North’s nuclear development and its missiles – which Pyongyang deems to be of crucial use for the country’s future generations – has become the norm,” the official told AFP. Agence France-Presse Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
North Korea has long claimed that its ballistic and nuclear programs are for self-defense. She also condemned the recent joint exercises by Seoul and Washington, considering them as dress rehearsals for an invasion of her territory. The North Korean air force is the weakest link in its military apparatus, experts say, who believe that the exercises in Pyongyang on Thursday are proof that the regime is trying to fill this weakness. “North Korea’s latest maneuvers, like many of the previous ones, are aimed at preventing South Korean warplanes from taking off,” defector An Chan-il, director of the Institute, told AFP. World of North Korean Studies.
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