North Korea’s Kim oversees air drills

SEOUL – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised drills by his country’s air force and underscored the need for a step-up in war preparation, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on May 17. 

Mr Kim, who inspected anti-aircraft combat and air strike drills by North Korea’s 1st Air Division on May 15, called for “all units in the entire military” to bring about “a breakthrough in war preparation”, the state media agency said.  

Footage of the drills on state TV showed an MiG-29 jet launching a missile, which appeared to be a North Korean version of a Russia-developed mid- to long-range air-to-air missile, said Dr Hong Min, North Korea analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, which is in South Korea.

So far in May, Mr Kim has overseen a missile test, inspected tank and munitions plants, made a rare

visit to the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang

, reaffirming the North’s alliance with Moscow, and supervised tank firing drills and special operations unit training.

North Korea also slammed the US State Department for placing it on a list of countries that do not fully cooperate with American counter-terrorism efforts. 

The North has been placed on the list every year since 1997, the Yonhap News Agency of South Korea said. 

“The more the US provokes the DPRK with unnecessary and inefficient malicious acts, the further it will escalate the irreconcilable hostility between the DPRK and the US,” a spokesperson for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said, according to KCNA, using the initials of the country’s official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. 

“The DPRK will... take effective and proper measures to cope with the US hostile provocations in all spheres.” REUTERS