North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a navy unit and oversaw a test of strategic cruise missiles, state media reported on Monday, ahead of joint military drills by South Korea and the United States.
Kim inspected one of his fleets in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of ??Japan, and observed the crew as they prepared for a practice launch of “strategic cruise missiles”, the report said. official KCNA news agency.
The agency did not say when the visit took place or provide details on the type of missiles launched. She, however, clarified that they “quickly hit their targets without a single mistake”.
But according to Seoul, KCNA’s information is “exaggerated and contains many discrepancies from the truth”.
“Both South Korea and the United States were monitoring in real time the relative clues we detected in advance,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said in a statement Monday.
“Our military will maintain an attitude of unyielding readiness (…) by conducting joint exercises and training with high intensity and rigor, in order to be able to respond with overwhelming power to any provocation by North Korea. “, he clarified.
The North Korean announcement comes ahead of the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield drills. These large-scale US-South Korean maneuvers, scheduled until August 31, aim to respond to the growing threats from North Korea with nuclear weapons.
Pyongyang, which believes that these joint exercises are in fact preparing for an invasion of the North, has repeatedly warned that “overwhelming” actions will respond to them.
Suspected North Korean hackers have previously carried out email attacks against South Korean contractors working at the Allied Exercises War Simulation Center, police said.
The cruise missile test announcement comes three days after US President Joe Biden hosted South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Camp David.
At a press conference on Friday, they said the summit would open a “new chapter” of close tripartite security cooperation, unthinkable until recently due to tensions between Tokyo and Seoul linked to the harsh history of Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
It was the first time the leaders of the three countries met for a stand-alone summit. And if China was the main subject, North Korea was also on the menu.
The three leaders agreed on a multi-year plan of regular exercises in all areas, going beyond one-off drills in response to Pyongyang. They made a “formal commitment to consult” during crises, via a direct line of communication.
They also agreed to share real-time data relating to North Korea and to meet in summit every year.
“Deepening the U.S.-Japan-South Korea trilateral cooperation can foster diplomacy with Pyongyang by pushing China to pressure North Korea to resume talks,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
But, according to him, “before that happens, the Kim regime will amplify its nuclear threats and continue to launch missiles.”
21/08/2023 08:13:17 – Seoul (AFP) © 2023 AFP
