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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for intensifying “practical war exercises” during a visit to a military training base, state media reported Thursday, as South Korea and the United States conduct joint military exercises.
The official Korean Central News Agency reported that during his visit to the base located in the country’s western region, Kim inspected the training facilities and supervised the actual maneuvers of the military units.
The visit came two days after South Korea and the United States began the annual Freedom Shield exercises to strengthen deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. North Korea condemned the joint exercises and warned that the two countries would pay a “heavy price.”
“The leader has set important tasks to intensify practical training for actual warfare to ensure victory in the war,” the agency said.
Kim also directed the military to step up training to improve its combat capabilities to contain enemies with “overwhelming force” and their “smallest attempt to spark a war,” KCNA said in an English-language bulletin.
The joint military exercises between Seoul and Washington come as North Korea has intensified weapons testing in recent months by launching cruise missiles from land and sea and firing artillery near the tense western maritime border.
Pyongyang has long denounced the allied joint military exercises as invasion rehearsals and used them as a pretext for provocations. For their part, Seoul and Washington said that their military exercises were defensive in nature.
Source: AFP
2024-03-10 13:10:27