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Pyongyang has again described the joint US-South Korea exercises as rehearsals for an invasion of the North and has been ramping up its military preparedness. Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, oversaw exercises involving paratroopers on Friday, state-run media reported, after attending live-fire artillery drills and test-driving a new tank earlier in the week.
The Korea Central News Agency added that Mr Kim instructed the units to be ready for “surprise wartime circumstances”, repeating recent calls for the nation to be “fully prepared” for a war with its southern neighbour.
Yoon Suk Yeol, the South Korean president, has expanded security cooperation with the US and Japan and taken a far more resolute line toward Pyongyang than his predecessor, said Leif-Eric Easley, Professor of International Studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. Mr Kim, however, has not been cowed and has arguably been emboldened by a burgeoning alliance with Russia.
“The Kim regime has taken more aggressive steps, such as missile launches it says are no longer just tests but also combat readiness drills, including for nuclear war,” he said.
“Strikingly, while South Korea conducted defence training last week alongside international partners, Kim Jong-un personally supervised several military exercises,” Mr Easley said. “And now, while Seoul hosts a summit of democracies, North Korea fires more missiles.
“The Kim regime’s one-upmanship aims to show strength to its domestic audience, suggest costs on the Korean Peninsula for Seoul’s international security cooperation, and warns Washington against increasing pressure on Pyongyang”.
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