North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has guided an artillery firing drill involving units near the border with South Korea, state-run media said Friday, in an apparent response to an ongoing joint military exercise conducted by Seoul and Washington.
The units "put the enemy's capital in their striking range and fulfilled important military missions for war deterrence" in Thursday's drill, the official Korean Central News Agency said, referring to Seoul.
Kim "expressed his great satisfaction" as all the artillery units involved in the drill were fully ready for constant mobilization for battle, KCNA said.
The leader sought preparations for regular combat mobilization so that all the artillery units can "take the initiative with merciless and rapid strikes at the moment of their entry into an actual war," the report added.
North Korea's official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, also ran photos Friday that showed many self-propelled artillery pieces lined up at a beach as well as vehicle-mounted multiple-rocket launchers.
On Wednesday, Kim visited a major operational training base of the country's army in the western part of the nation and guided units on maneuvers, according to KCNA.
South Korea and the United States began their joint military exercise on Monday to prepare for an emergency on the Korean Peninsula.
In the 11-day drill through next Thursday, the two countries will double the number of field drills compared with last year, given North Korea's rapidly advancing nuclear and missile technology, according to the South Korean military.
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