North Korea conducts artillery firing exercises to bolster its defence capability: Report

Amid escalating tensions with Seoul and Washington, North Korea recently conducted artillery firing exercises to bolster its defence capability, state media KCNA reported on Sunday, 7 November. An artillery firing competition among mechanised units was held over the weekend, with senior government and military officials present. As per the news agency, this year’s drills were designed to inspect the mechanised units’ progress in their mobile combat capabilities and to further intensify competitive training throughout the North’s army.

It is to mention that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un reportedly did not observe Saturday’s training. But he had supervised a similar artillery firing drill last year. According to AP, North Korea, since September, has test-launched a series of newly deployed missiles, including nuclear-capable weapons. 

The latest artillery firing exercise comes as Pyongyang continues to pressure Washington and Seoul to abandon what it calls their hostile policy. Even though North’s artillery tests draw very little outside attention than its missile tests, its long-range artillery pieces deployed near the border with South Korea pose a serious threat to the South’s metropolitan region and other areas, as per experts. They also believe that North Korea wants its revival to accept it as a nuclear power state and work to ease international sanctions on the country. 

North’s expansion of military capabilities 

However, US-led talks aimed at ending North’s nuclear programme collapsed in early 2019 amid bickering over sanctions. But recently the Joe Biden administration has offered a resumption of talks with Pyongyang without any preconditions. The North, on the other hand, has said that it won’t return to talks unless the US first abandons what Pyongyang calls its hostile policy, an apparent reference to the sanctions and regular military drills between the US and South Korea. 

Meanwhile, Pyongyang has raised animosities with a resumption of provocative weapons tests. It is to mention that North Korea conducted its fifth set of weapons tests in recent weeks on 22 October by firing a newly built ballistic missile from a submarine. Officials in South Korea claimed a submarine-launched missile looked to be in the early stages of development. That was the North's first underwater test since October 2019 and the most high-profile since President Joe Biden took office in January. Submarine-launched missiles are tougher to detect in advance, giving North Korea a backup, retaliatory assault capability.

(Image: AP)