KIM Jong-un flexes his muscles as North Korean army tested the large-scale artillery under his watch with the country preparing for war.
The Korean People’s Army conducted the live-fire artillery drill near the border with units that are capable of striking the South Korean capital.
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Kim urged his soldiers to gear up for “actual war” and increase combat readiness, reported Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
North Korea showed off large-calibre weapons within the firing range of “the enemy’s capital” on Thursday, referring to Seoul.
Seoul’s military confirmed that the North test-fired rocket launchers and self-propelled artillery shells toward the Yellow Sea between 11am and 5pm local time.
They also added that North Korea’s “provocations” were being closely monitored while Seoul “maintains a firm defence posture”
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement: “If North Korea commits a provocation, we will punish overwhelmingly and firmly in accordance with the principle of ‘immediately, strongly, and until the end’.”
Kim’s army put on a show of firepower after Seoul and Washington kicked off their annual spring military exercises on Monday – with twice the number of troops compared to last year.
Kim called Seoul’s joint drills a “rehearsal for invasion” and has accelerated his weapons testing.
As Kim watched the firing drills on Thursday, he was left positively assured that the units are “fully ready for constant mobilization for battles,” according to KCNA.
The report stated: “He stressed the need to train all the artillerymen of the whole army into experts in artillery engagement … and set forth important tasks for rounding off the artillery war preparations.”
The state media added that Thursday’s drill “fulfilled important military missions for war deterrence”.
Kim insisted that military scaled up its preparation so the artillery sub-units could deliver “merciless and rapid strikes” the moment a war broke out.
Kim continues to step up pressure on Seoul, declaring it the “principal enemy” and threatening all-out nuclear war over “even 0.001 mm” of territory invasion.
Earlier this year, North Korea tested its nuclear underwater attack drone in a chilling warning shot to the US, Japan and South Korea carrying out war drills.
A North Korean defence ministry spokesman accused the US and its Asian allies of “getting frantic” with their three-day military drill – and warned of “catastrophic consequences”.
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