North Korea’s defense ministry promised to react to ongoing military drills between the two major rivals, which Pyongyang views as invasion rehearsals.
On Thursday, state media reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had called for increased warfighting capabilities against the United States and South Korea. North Korea has tested missiles and other weapons in retaliation for prior military drills between the US and South Korea.
Kim stated that the military has to “steadily intensify the actual war drills aimed at rapidly improving its combat capabilities for perfect war preparedness” on Wednesday while on a visit to a Western operational training base, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
The leader of North Korea also visited the major military operations base to go over the troops’ field training. KCNA reports that he stated that the military needs to “dynamically usher in a new heyday of intensifying the war preparations in line with the requirements of the prevailing situation”
His latest demand came two days after North Korea’s Defense Ministry threatened to conduct unspecified ”responsible military activities” because South Korean-US military drills were allegedly getting more undisguised in their attempt to invade the North.
The two allies began their annual computer-simulated command post training and a variety of field exercises on Monday for an 11-day run.
This year’s drills were to involve 48 field exercises, twice the number conducted last year. The two countries have said their drills are defensive in nature as North Korea continues to accelerate his weapons development and make provocative threats of nuclear conflict with the United States and its Asian allies. North Korea has tested multiple long-range cruise missiles and a new solid-fuel intermediate-range missile in January.
In 2024, North Korea performed six rounds of missile tests. The US and South Korean forces, along with Japan, responded by expanding their training exercises. Animosities on the Korean Peninsula remain high in the wake of North Korea’s barrage of missile tests since 2022.
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