North Korea has decided to take “important practical steps” as a deterrent, according to state media, Sunday, a day before Seoul and Washington start their largest joint military exercises in five years.
And the North Korean Central News Agency stated that “the meeting discussed and adopted important practical measures in order to use the war deterrence in a more effective, powerful and offensive manner.”
The agency indicated that the decision was taken at a meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party headed by leader Kim Jong Un.
And the agency stated in a report that the measures aim to “deal with the current situation” at a time when “war provocations by the United States and South Korea have reached a red line,” but it did not explain what these measures were.
And South Korea and the United States announced that they would start Monday the “Freedom Shield” exercises, which focus on the “changing security environment” due to the double aggressiveness of North Korea.
These exercises anger North Korea, which it considers preparations for an invasion of its territory, while justifying its own nuclear and ballistic weapons programs by the need to defend itself.
Analysts say North Korea will likely use these exercises as a pretext for more provocations, including missile tests and perhaps even nuclear tests.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his army to intensify its military maneuvers in anticipation of a “real war”, during a missile launch exercise attended by his daughter, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Friday.
The agency quoted Kim as saying that North Korea should “regularly intensify various simulation exercises in anticipation of a real war in various ways and in different situations.”
Washington and Seoul have stepped up defense cooperation in the face of growing military and nuclear threats from North Korea, which has conducted increasingly provocative tests of banned weapons.