North Korea says military drill demonstrates the country’s 'huge destructive power' in display of live-fire
North Korea says it has demonstrated "the huge destructive power of concentrated fire" in a live-fire drill involving missiles, artillery and drones.
North Korea says it has conducted a joint live-fire drill involving missiles, artillery and drones that demonstrated “the huge destructive power of concentration fire”.
The official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday’s drill was meant to get familiar with the procedure for the operation of the integrated firepower control system.
South Korea’s military said it had detected short-range ballistic missile launches from North Korea’s eastern coastal Wonsan area on Saturday morning.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.After observing the drill, Marshal Pak Jong Chon said the drill would “improve the level of specialisation to bring down the enemy’s armed forces organisationally and structurally once an order is issued”.
The weapons systems mobilised demonstrated “the huge destructive power of concentration fire”, according to KCNA.
It’s extremely difficult to independently verify North Korean claims on its weapons tests.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said several missiles fired on Saturday flew about 250km each in a direction toward North Korea’s eastern waters. The flight distances signal the weapons are designed to strike targets in South Korea.
The firing drill marked North Korea’s first public ballistic missile launches in about three weeks.
Last month, US President Donald Trump scaled back a major bilateral military drill with South Korea, citing what he called a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
That’s an apparent effort to revive diplomacy between them, but North Korea rebuffed Trump’s overture saying just shortening the drill won’t change its “provocative, aggressive nature”.
Buoyed by his advancing nuclear arsenal and deepened ties with Russia and China, experts say Kim likely thinks he has greater leverage in possible diplomacy with the US than when he first met Trump in 2018-2019.
