North Korea stages combined firepower drill day after allied exercises conclude

Seoul’s JCS detected missiles flying approximately 155 miles from Wonsan

SEOUL, Sept. 14 (UPI) — North Korea staged a combined firepower drill Saturday involving long-range artillery, missiles and drones, intended to familiarize troops with an integrated firepower control system, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Monday, one day after the United States, South Korea and Japan concluded their trilateral Freedom Edge exercise off Jeju Island.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Saturday it had detected multiple short-range ballistic missiles launched from the Wonsan area on the east coast toward the East Sea. The missiles flew approximately 155 miles, according to a JCS text message to reporters, and South Korea and the United States were conducting a detailed analysis.

Subunits drawn from five artillery and missile units participated in the exercise, which KCNA said used “attack drones of various kinds, tactical cruise missile, large-caliber thermal-pressure multiple rocket launcher and tactical ballistic missile” simultaneously. The weapons systems hit their targets with “100 percent” accuracy and “demonstrated the huge destructive power of concentration fire,” the report said.

Maj. Gen. Yu Chang Son, director of the Artillery Bureau of the Korean military’s General Staff, said the concentrated-fire training would “improve the level of specialization to bring down the enemy’s armed forces organizationally and structurally.” The North will “steadily master the procedures for counterattack posture on the enemy through practical drills,” Yu added.

Kim Jong Un was not reported to have attended Saturday’s drill. Pak Jong Chon, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, and Yu oversaw the exercise, according to KCNA.

South Korea’s presidential Office of National Security convened an emergency meeting Saturday and condemned the launches as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, calling for an immediate halt.

Saturday’s drill came one day after Seoul, Washington and Tokyo concluded their five-day Freedom Edge exercise in international waters off South Korea’s Jeju Island. Pyongyang routinely condemns the allies’ military maneuvers as rehearsals for an invasion and frequently stages weapons tests in response. Last week, North Korean Defense Minister Kim Song Gi warned the North would take “strong corresponding countermeasures” to Freedom Edge.

The trilateral exercise proceeded as planned after South Korea and the United States abruptly curtailed their large-scale joint Ulchi Freedom Shield drills last month on orders from U.S. President Donald Trump. In a Truth Social post, Trump said the military drills were expensive and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea. The directive was widely seen as an effort to restart diplomacy, with Trump telling reporters that he expected to meet Kim Jong Un this year.

Pyongyang has so far shown little interest in engaging, however. Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, last month downplayed the significance of the reduction, calling it “unworthy of comment.”

Saturday’s launches were North Korea’s first since it fired a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles on Aug. 20 during Ulchi Freedom Shield. They marked the North’s 13th known ballistic missile launch event of the year.