On Monday, August 14, as South Korea and the United States prepared for annual military drills, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, called for an increase in missile manufacturing to help secure “overwhelming military power” and be ready for war.
On Friday and Saturday, Kim visited important munitions factories where tactical missiles, missile launchers, armored vehicles, and artillery shells are produced.
As he increases his visits to armaments companies, his weekend field inspection was the most recent in recent days.
Pyongyang views the forthcoming annual military exercises between the United States and South Korea as a wargame.
Kim noted an “important goal to dramatically increase” missile production capacity to meet the needs of the expanded and strengthened frontline military units, KCNA said
“The qualitative levels of war preparations depend on the development of the munitions industry, and the factory has a tremendous responsibility in accelerating our military’s war preparations,” he was quoted as saying.
According to KCNA, Kim visited more sites where he tested out a brand-new utility combat armored vehicle and commended recent developments in the modernization of production lines for large-caliber multiple rocket launcher rounds.
He stated that in order to bolster frontline artillery forces, there was a “very urgent need” to “exponentially increase” the manufacturing of these missiles.
“Our army must thoroughly secure overwhelming military power and solid readiness to handle any war at any time, so that the enemy does not dare to use force, and would be annihilated if it does,” Kim said.
In order to strengthen their capacity to respond to North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats, South Korea and the United States announced on Monday that they would conduct the Ulchi Freedom Guardian summer exercises from August 21 to August 31.
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), this year’s exercises will be the “largest scale ever,” mobilizing tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides as well as some U.N. Command members for roughly 30 field training programs.
“The exercises are an essential element in maintaining robust combined defence posture in case of emergency – absolutely necessary to respond to the growing military threat from North Korea,” JCS spokesman Col. Lee Sung-jun told a briefing.
The United States has accused North Korea of providing weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine, including artillery shells, shoulder-fired rockets and missiles.
North Korea and Russia have denied any arms transactions.