Kim Jong-un advised on latest North Korean missile launch
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has witnessed Thursday. the latest missile launch carried out by his country’s army.which fired at least one short-range missile into the Yellow Sea (called the West Sea in the two Koreas), state media reported.
Kim, who was again accompanied by his daughter, “provided field guidance to the Hwasong artillery unit. tasked with a major KPA operational task on the western front on March 9 and watched a live-fire attack exercise,” the official agency details KCNA.
On Thursday, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) has initially reported that. Pionyang had fired a single short-range missile into the Yellow Sea. from near the port town of Nampo (west coast).
Shortly thereafter, it has been announced that the South Korean military was “thoroughly analyzing the possibility that North Korea may have simultaneously launched several ballistic missiles short-range ballistic missiles from the same area.”
Photos published by KCNA show the launch of at least six ballistic missiles short-range ballistic missiles launched simultaneously.
The North Korean unit “fired a forceful salvo into the designated target waters of the West Sea of Korea under the conditions of simulating the main elements of an enemy operation airport,” has detailed KCNA and added that the exercise “confidently demonstrates its ability to counter a real war.”
In recent days South Korea and the United States conducted just such exercises over the Yellow Sea involving a U.S. B-52 strategic bomber and South Korean F-15 and F16 fighters.
This exercise and the North Korean test take place on the eve of Seoul and Washington kicking off their major combined spring maneuvers next Monday. Freedom Shield, which Pyongyang regards as a rehearsal to invade its territory and to which it has promised to give “an unprecedented response.”
The last time the allies conducted maneuvers of this scale last November, North Korea fired in response more than 30 missiles of different types – one of them of intercontinental range – in just three days.
The peninsula is experiencing a historic level of tension after a 2022 in which Pyongyang, which has rejected offers to return to dialogue, conducted a record number of weapons tests and in which the allies again executed major maneuvers and deployed U.S. strategic assets in the region.
