North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited a navy unit and inspected a cruise missile test aboard a warship, Pyongyang's state media reported Monday, in an apparent bid to respond to joint military drills between South Korea and the United States.
The North's leader inspected the Guards 2nd Surface Ship Flotilla of the East Sea Fleet of the navy of the Korean People's Army (KPA), the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, without disclosing the time of his visit.
He also watched the seamen on the patrol ship stage a drill, in which it test launched "strategic" cruise missiles, verifying the ship's "regular posture for mobilization and offensive ability."
"At the drill aimed to reconfirm the combat function of the ship and the feature of its missile system and make the seamen skilled at carrying out the attack mission in actual war, the ship rapidly hit target without even an error," the KCNA said in an English-language report.
South Korea and the U.S. kicked off the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise Monday, featuring various contingency drills, such as the computer simulation-based command post exercise, concurrent field training and Ulchi civil defense drills. The exercise will run until Aug. 31.
Kim vowed to strengthen the North's navy to make it an "all-round and powerful" service group with improved combat efficiency and modern means of surface and underwater offensive and defensive capabilities, the KCNA said.
North Korea will "put spurs to the modernization of naval weapons and equipment including the building of powerful warships and the development of shipboard and underwater weapon systems," he said.
The inspection came amid expectations that North Korea could carry out major provocations, such as the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), in a bid to protest the allies' joint military drills. The North has long denounced the Seoul-Washington military exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion.
The North's leader called for a "drastic boost" of the country's missile production capacity and war contingency preparations in an "offensive" manner during his latest visit to major munitions factories.
The leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan held a trilateral summit at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland last week, where they adopted a series of documents that outlined their commitments to enhance security cooperation and called for the three countries' leaders to meet annually.
In particular, they agreed to consult one another in the event of common threats amid the security and economic challenges posed by North Korea and China.
Source: Yonhap News Agency