North Korea intimidates South with ‘actual war’ drill

SEOUL – Agence France-Presse

AFP Photo

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw a live-fire artillery drill aimed at simulating an “actual war,” state media said, a day after South Korea swore in its first female president.

“An endless barrage of shells were fired by artillery pieces on ‘enemy positions,’ their roar rocking heaven and earth, and all of them were enveloped in flames,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

“Feasting his eyes at the ‘enemy positions’ in flames, (Kim) was satisfied,” the official agency added.

KCNA gave no precise time or location for the drill, but its announcement followed the presidential inauguration in the South, at which new leader Park Geun-Hye signaled a zero-tolerance policy to North Korea provocation.

According to KCNA, Kim ordered the live fire exercise to test the capability of artillery units “to fight an actual war.” It marked the latest in a series of high-profile military inspections by Kim following the North’s nuclear test earlier this month.

Last week Kim oversaw an air force demonstration, a paratroop drill and a separate tactical attack exercise combined with live shell firing.

In her inauguration speech, Park demanded that Pyongyang “abandon its nuclear ambitions” immediately and warned that the North’s test was a challenge to the future survival of the Korean people.