As South Korea and the United States gear up for annual military drills, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has asked the authorities to increase the production of missiles and artillery shells in order to help attain "overwhelming military power" and be prepared for war, state media KCNA reported on Monday. Kim Jong Un’s orders came after he visited key munitions factories that manufacture tactical missiles, missile launch platforms, armoured vehicles, and artillery shells on Friday and Saturday.
Kim notably said that it is an "important goal to dramatically increase" missile production capacity to fulfill the needs of the expanded frontline military units, as per KCNA. "The qualitative levels of war preparation depend on the development of the munitions industry, and the factory has a tremendous responsibility in accelerating our military's war preparations," Reuters quoted Kim as saying.
Kim inspected and drove a new utility combat armoured vehicle at other plants. According to KCNA, he also hailed the progress in modernising production lines for large-calibre multiple rocket launcher rounds and asserted that there was a "very urgent need" to "exponentially increase" the production of such rockets to strengthen frontline artillery units.
"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, as quoted by Reuters.
Meanwhile, South Korea and the United States said on Monday that they are set to stage the Ulchi Freedom Guardian summer exercises on Aug. 21–31 in order to improve the ability of the two nations to respond to evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. But North Korea has denounced them as a rehearsal for nuclear war. The exercise was initiated in 1976 and is conducted annually during August or September.
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