N. Korean leader inspects 'actual war' readiness of artillery unit targeting enemy's airfield: KCNA

• Published date: 10 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected a "fire assault drill" of an artillery unit as he urged the military to bolster simulated drills for an "actual war," Pyongyang's state media said Friday, with South Korea and the United States set to kick off their springtime joint military exercise next week.

Photos released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) also showed Kim's daughter Ju-ae attending the "field guidance."

Kim "gave field guidance to" the "Hwasong artillery unit charged with important operational task of the Korean People's Army on the western front on March 9 and watched a fire assault drill," the KCNA said in an English-language report.

"He stressed the need to always stay alert for all sorts of more frantic war preparation moves being committed by the enemy recently and maintain and steadily train the powerful capability to overwhelmingly respond to and contain them all the time so as to thoroughly deter the danger of a military clash on the Korean Peninsula," it added.

Kim emphasized that the fire assault subunits should be "strictly prepared for the greatest perfection" in carrying out two strategic missions: deterring war and taking the initiative in war "by steadily intensifying various simulated drills for real war in a diverse way in different situations."

The North's leader "examined the actual war response posture of the 8th fire assault company under the unit charged with striking the enemy's operation airport in the direction of the western front," implying that the drills were aimed at striking the South's military airfields in case of a war.

"The fire assault company, which has trained its capability to carrying out strike missions in the definite and minute war posture of containing any military moves of the enemy at a time, fired a powerful volley at the targeted waters in the...