Kim Jong-un watches missile drill with daughter, vows to rapidly advance 'nuclear war deterrent'
North Korea said Kim oversaw a hypersonic missile launch drill and pledged to continue driving forward the country's nuclear efforts.
North Korea fires an intermediate-range strategic missile on Oct. 3, overseen by its leader Kim Jong-un, in this photo carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Oct. 4.
NEWS1
North Korea on Sunday released images of leader Kim Jong-un and his daughter Ju-ae watching an intermediate-range strategic missile launch drill the previous day, as Kim vowed to keep advancing the country's “nuclear war deterrent.”
The drill, which sent a missile from the country's eastern region into the East Sea early Saturday, was aimed at honing the firepower service capabilities of missile troops handling the “hypersonic strategic weapon system” and part of an evaluation of the reliability, effectiveness and operability of the war deterrent, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) claimed.
Kim Yo-jong, the leader's sister and director of the General Affairs Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, had already announced the drill through the KCNA on Saturday. It was an unusual same-day disclosure, in which she claimed military authorities from South Korea and Japan had failed to follow the trajectory of the missile due to the limitations of their tracking capabilities.
Kim Jong-un's wife, Ri Sol-ju, also watched the launch, along with Kim Jong-sik, deputy director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, and Jang Chang-ha, director-general of the country's Missile Administration.
Kim Jong-un said it is important to demonstrate the counterattacking means of the North's military, according to the report.
“We must continue our responsible efforts nonstop to constantly and repeatedly make the enemy recognize the reliability and fatality of our strategic offensive means,” the North's leader was quoted as saying by the KCNA.
“This is a form of exercising deterrence,” he said, noting that such a missile launch is aimed at “more rapidly developing the country's nuclear war deterrent.”
The KCNA said the missile, launched toward the northeast, hit a target 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) away from the East Sea.
The South Korean military earlier said it detected North Korea firing a ballistic missile toward the East Sea early Saturday morning from the Wonsan area.
The launch came 12 days after a land mine explosion and was the North's first ballistic missile launch in 13 days, following one on Sept. 20.
BY CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
