North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this week told his military to be ready for war as the black leather-clad, gun-toting dictator supervised military drills.
Kim told soldiers on Wednesday to be combat-ready, a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, according to the Independent.
“Our army should ... steadily intensify the actual war drills aimed at rapidly improving its combat capabilities for perfect war preparedness,” Kim said while touring a training facility.
North Korea's Kim Jong Un sports leather jacket as he leads latest military display and tells commanders to simulate 'real war' https://t.co/uF7i5l7IMr pic.twitter.com/c9GFYmGXkQ
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 14, 2024
"Only realistic training directly related to warfare can prepare soldiers as real combat fighters," Kim said, according to Reuters.
Kim’s visit and rhetoric came as the U.S. and South Korea held military drills. North Korea called the drills a plot to invade its territory and vowed to take “responsible” military actions in response.
North Korea’s Defense Ministry said it “strongly denounces the reckless military drills of the US and (South Korea) for getting more undisguised in their military threat to a sovereign state and attempt for invading it."
Kim called for his troops to “take revolutionary measures” toward “perfecting war preparations.” He also was in a battle tank, which KCNA said he drove, according to The Hill.
One analyst said that battle readiness is a permanent state of mind in North Korea.
Kim Jong Un got a leather jacket for every occasion https://t.co/YSrUPotFAX
— I tweet (@mrc__suave22) March 7, 2024
“The South Korean-U.S. training is over, but the North’s isn’t over yet,” Yang Uk, an analyst at Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said, according to ABC. “They won’t just stand still ... they’ve been talking about war.”
A top American commander said U.S. troops in South Korea are bracing for the unexpected, according to Reuters.
🇰🇵KIM DRIVES “THE MOST POWERFUL TANK IN THE WORLD”
Kim Jong Un expressed “great satisfaction” after participating in a demonstration of North Korea’s new tanks, which he says are the most powerful in the world.
Source: Reuters pic.twitter.com/mSkQYRQyS9
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 14, 2024
"Nothing in the history of the United States should give us any faith and confidence that we know where the next threat is coming from," Brigadier Gen. Derek Lipson of Special Operations Command - Korea said.
"I think (North Korea) would like nothing more than senior military leaders, junior military leaders, service members, (South Korea) and the U.S. to be worried about the election more than they're worried about their readiness," he said.
"It's important to make sure that we understand our role is to be ready, not to be part of the argument,” he said.
"I'm not going to talk plans, but the ability to execute those where we're asked and when we're asked, that's readiness," he said. "And that's what we're prepared to do."
Also this week, Kim rode in a Russian limousine given to him by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, according to the Associated Press.
“Kim Jong Un’s using of the private car sent by the president of the Russian Federation as a gift is a clear proof of (North Korea)-Russia friendship, which is developing in a comprehensive way on a new high stage,” Kim Yo Jong, the leader’s sister, said.
