North Korean leader Kim Jong Un joined his troops in training to operate newly developed battle tanks as he...
The North's tank training was seen as a response to the annual 11-day South Korean-U.S. military drills.The North's training on March 13 was designed to inspect tankmen's combat capabilities and involved the new-type main battle tank that Kim called "the world's most powerful," the official Korean Central News Agency said.During the training, heavy tanks moved around various simulated harsh combat circumstances and fired rounds at targets.
They say North Korea is expected to extend its testing activities and ramp up warlike rhetoric this year as both the United States and South Korea hold major elections.North Korea's Defense Ministry earlier vowed to carry out "responsible military activities" in reaction to the ongoing South Korea-US military exercises in the South. Kim later supervised artillery firing drills.
Vice spokesperson Lee Hyo-jung told reporters that North Korea must focus instead on caring for people's livelihoods and take a path toward building peace on the Korean Peninsula.The KCNA report did not specify what types of weapons were involved in Thursday's exercise or how many rockets were fired.
Kim's comments were in line with an escalatory nuclear doctrine the North set into law last year, which authorises preemptive nuclear strikes in situations where it may perceive its leadership as under threat, including conventional clashes.Kim watched the firings from an observation post along with military officials and his daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju-ae and around 10 years old.
Kim's campaign is aimed at forcing the United States into accepting the North as a nuclear power and negotiating badly needed economic concessions from a position of strength, analysts say.The South Korean and US militaries will conduct computer-simulated command post training March 13-23 and will resume their largest springtime field exercises, which were last held in 2018.