North Korea’s Kim directs cruise missile test as South Korea-US drills begin

North Korean chief Kim Jong Un oversaw a take a look at of strategic cruise missiles, state media KCNA stated on Monday, as South Korea and the US kicked off annual navy drills that Pyongyang sees as a rehearsal for warfare.

Kim visited a navy fleet stationed on the east coast to supervise the take a look at aboard a warship, KCNA stated, with out specifying the date of his journey.

The launch was geared toward verifying the “fight perform of the ship and the characteristic of its missile system,” whereas bettering the sailors’ functionality to hold out an “assault mission in precise warfare”, KCNA stated, noting that the ship’s missile hit its goal.

Kim touted the ship for sustaining “excessive mobility and mighty putting energy and fixed preparedness for fight to deal with sudden conditions,” KCNA stated.

South Korea’s defence ministry stated that it had detected indicators of the launch, however that the claims in KCNA had been “exaggerated” and “completely different from the information,” with out elaborating.

The newest missile take a look at got here as South Korea and the US started the Ulchi Freedom Defend summer season workout routines on Monday, designed to boost their joint responses to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

Pyongyang has denounced the allies’ navy drills as a rehearsal for nuclear warfare.

South Korea’s navy has stated this 12 months’s workout routines will likely be held on the “largest scale ever”, mobilizing tens of 1000’s of troops from either side, in addition to some member states of the U.N. Command.

President Yoon Suk Yeol stated the drills could be carried out underneath a number of contingency eventualities, together with cyber, terror and drone assaults, and a disinformation marketing campaign from the North.

“True peace is preserved solely by overwhelming drive, not by one-sided begging or goodwill,” Yoon instructed a gathering of the Nationwide Safety Council. “North Korea talks about preemptive nuclear strikes and preparations for an offensive warfare, however we are going to instantly and overwhelmingly retaliate for any provocations.”

South Korean lawmakers have stated the North might test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile or take different navy motion to protest the allies’ drills or final week’s summit of South Korea, the US and Japan.

North Korea has been testing what it calls “strategic cruise missiles,” which some analysts have stated could possibly be tipped with nuclear warheads, in the course of the previous two years.

Whereas modernizing and bolstering its naval energy, North Korea showcased a brand new, nuclear-capable underwater assault drone in March.

Aboard the ship, Kim vowed to bolster the navy with “improved fight effectivity and full trendy technique of floor and underwater offensive and defensive” capabilities, KCNA stated.

“We’d put spurs to the modernization of naval weapons and gear, together with the constructing of highly effective warships and the event of shipboard and underwater weapon techniques,” he was quoted as saying.