North Korea hails ‘huge destructive power’ demonstrated in live-fire drill

North Korea said on Monday it conducted a joint live-fire drill involving missiles, artillery and drones that it claimed demonstrated “huge destructive power”.

The test included firing different types of weapons simultaneously, probably aimed at developing the ability to overwhelm South Korean and US air defences.

Experts said North Korea is not slowing its testing activities after US President Donald Trump recently scaled back a military exercise with South Korea in an apparent effort to revive diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Saturday’s drill was meant to practise the operations of an integrated weapons control system. South Korea’s military earlier said it detected short-range ballistic missile launches from North Korea’s eastern coastal Wonsan area on Saturday morning.

After observing the firing drill, North Korean marshall Pak Jong Chon said the drill would “improve the level of specialisation to bring down the enemy’s armed forces organisationally and structurally once an order is issued”. He said the weapons systems mobilised demonstrated “the huge destructive power of concentrated fire”, according to KCNA.

It’s extremely difficult to independently verify North Korean claims about its weapons tests. South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said several missiles fired on Saturday each flew about 250km towards North Korea’s eastern waters. The flight distances signal the weapons are designed to strike targets in South Korea, including US military bases.

The firing drill, which included North Korea’s first public ballistic missile launches in about three weeks, came a day after the US, South Korea and Japan wrapped up a trilateral military exercise that North Korea views as a provocation.

In August, Trump ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” a major bilateral military exercise with South Korea, citing what he called a good relationship with Kim. North Korea rebuffed Trump’s overture, saying shortening the drill didn’t change its “provocative, aggressive nature”. The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise eventually ended six days earlier than originally scheduled.

Buoyed by his advancing nuclear arsenal and deepened ties with Russia and China, experts said Kim likely thinks he has greater leverage in possible diplomacy with the US than when he first met Trump in 2018-2019.

Kim said earlier this year he could return to talks if the US drops its “hostile policy” against his country and respects what he calls the North’s status as a nuclear state.