North Korea’s top army officials have said they would expand and intensify military drills to ensure their readiness for war, state media reported yesterday, ahead of a massive parade.
The pledge came at a Monday meeting overseen by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and follows last week’s staging of joint air drills by South Korea and the US.
The agenda was topped by “the issue of constantly expanding and intensifying the operation and combat drills of the [Korean People’s Army] ... strictly perfecting the preparedness for war,” the official Korean Central News Agency said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea came as commercial satellite imagery suggests “extensive parade preparations” are under way in Pyongyang ahead of key state holidays this month.
North Korea celebrates the founding anniversary of its armed forces today and the “Day of the Shining Star” on Thursday next week. The latter is the birthday of Kim Jong-il, son of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung and father of Kim Jong-un.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff yesterday said that it was closely monitoring areas surrounding Pyongyang’s parade training ground, adding that it had seen a “great increase in personnel and vehicles” in recent days.
Seoul and Washington have moved to bolster joint military drills following a year of sanctions-busting weapons tests by North Korea, infuriating Pyongyang, which sees such joint exercises as rehearsals for invasion.
Last week, the security allies staged joint air drills featuring strategic bombers and stealth fighters, prompting Pyongyang to warn such exercises could “ignite an all-out showdown.”
The joint exercises, their first this year, came a day after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart vowed to boost security cooperation to counter an increasingly belligerent nuclear-armed North.
North Korea’s foreign minister has said the move to ramp up joint drills crossed “an extreme red line.”
On Monday, the South Korean Ministry of Defense said a North Korean balloon had crossed over to its airspace at the weekend, but concluded it did not pose a threat.
It was believed to be a weather balloon, Yonhap News agency reported, citing officials, and the ministry said it had taken “measures” without elaborating.
The report came after Washington shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, with Beijing saying that it was a civilian airship that had accidentally crossed into US airspace.
Experts have said Monday’s meeting of North Korea’s top brass aimed to highlight the country’s readiness to face down upcoming joint military drills between South Korea and the US — and also stress it was prepared for an actual war.
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