North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a live-fire artillery drill simulating an attack on a South Korean airfield and called for his troops to be ready to respond to the enemies' “frantic war preparation moves” — apparently referring to the U.S.'s largest military exercises with the South in years.
The North Korean state media report Friday came a day after South Korea’s military detected the North firing at least one short-range ballistic missile toward the sea from a site near the western coastal city of Nampo. The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff was assessing whether more missiles may have been launched from the area simultaneously.
South Korea and the United States are preparing this month for their biggest combined military training exercise in years to counter the growing threat of Kim’s nuclear arsenal, which he has aggressively expanded despite the North’s deepening economic isolation and pandemic-related difficulties.