(Seoul) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has supervised a series of firing exercises by artillery units in the west of the country, the state-run KCNA news agency said Tuesday.
This announcement comes in a context of tensions with Seoul and Washington. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting South Korea and the two countries just completed one of their major joint military exercises.
North Korea launched several ballistic missiles on Monday, which traveled some 300 kilometers before crashing into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.
The artillery drills, announced Tuesday, include “very large multiple rocket launchers,” according to KCNA.
When the order was given, the soldiers “simultaneously fired the annihilation cannon,” the agency said.
“Massive shells of super-large multiple rocket launchers, fired from the lava-sharp cannons, flew towards the target with the flame of annihilation of the enemy,” the agency said.
The exercises also included a simulated “aerial shell explosion” from a super-large multiple rocket launcher, it added.
Mr. Blinken arrived in South Korea on Sunday to participate in the third “Summit for Democracy”, an initiative of United States President Joe Biden, and which Seoul is hosting from Monday to Wednesday. Government officials, NGOs and members of civil society are present.
The American Secretary of State also met his South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yul and discussed strengthening the alliance between Washington and Seoul, as part of a policy of “extended deterrence” against the North.
On Thursday, Seoul and Washington ended their annual large-scale “Freedom Shield” exercises, which included missile interception and air assaults. The number of troops participating has been doubled compared to 2023.
Pyongyang warned in early March that the United States and South Korea would pay a “high price” for the maneuvers before announcing that Mr. Kim had overseen a large-scale artillery exercise that he said included border units “who put the enemy’s capital within their reach.”