N.Korean leader Kim calls for intensified drills for ‘real war’

MM:

N.Korean leader Kim calls for intensified drills for ‘real war’

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the military to intensify drills for a “real war,” state media said. ― KCNA via Reuters

Friday, 10 Mar 2023 6:53 AM MYT


SEOUL, March 10 — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the military to intensify drills for a “real war,” state media said on Friday, after overseeing a fire assault drill that it said proved the country’s capability to counter an “actual war.”

North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile off its west coast on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, adding it was analysing possibilities the North may have launched multiple missiles simultaneously from the same area.


Photos released by the North’s KCNA news agency showed at least six missiles being fired at the same time.

KCNA said a unit trained for “strike missions” fired a “powerful volley at the targeted waters” and demonstrated its capability to “counter an actual war.”


“(Kim) stressed that the fire assault sub-units should be strictly prepared for the greatest perfection in carrying out the two strategic missions, that is, first to deter war and second to take the initiative in war, by steadily intensifying various simulated drills for real war ...,” KCNA said.


Kim was accompanied by his young daughter who has appeared recently in a series of major events.

The latest missile launches came as the United States and South Korea were set to kick off large-scale military exercises known as the Freedom Shield drills next week. North Korea has long bristled at the allies’ drills as a rehearsal for invasion.

North Korean leader Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, said earlier this week any move to shoot down one of its test missiles would be considered a declaration of war and blamed a joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea for growing tensions.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the latest launch posed no threat to the United States or its allies but Pyongyang’s weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs have a destabilising effect on the region. — Reuters

***

kt comments:

Kim Jong-un is not the most stable calm bloke but sometimes we need people like him to show the Wankees two fingers off, especially when the Wankees continue to be provocative and threatening. 

Earlier in a leaked document, Wankees was considering using 80 (yes, eighty, not eight) nukes on North Korea to paralyze the state. That was e'f'f'i'n'g/// MacArthur all over again!

***

THE WAR ZONE


Yes, The United States Did Draw Up A Plan To Drop 80 Nuclear Weapons On North Korea


In 2017, a war between North Korea and the United States was “much closer than anyone would know,” President Trump claims.

BY THOMAS NEWDICK

UPDATED NOV 27, 2020

Current nuclear war plans are among any nuclear-armed military’s most closely guarded secrets. Details of one such attack plan recently became available, however, revealing that the United States envisaged using 80 nuclear weapons in case of war with North Korea. The way this particular detail emerged is also pretty unusual — the associated passage appeared in U.S. journalist Bob Woodward’s book Rage, detailing President Trump’s administration, which was published this week.

In fact, the particular quote from the book was not entirely clear:

"The Strategic Command in Omaha had carefully reviewed and studied OPLAN 5027 for regime change in North Korea — the U.S. response to an attack that could include the use of 80 nuclear weapons."

This can be read two ways: a potential attack from the North could involve the use of 80 nuclear weapons, or the same number of weapons can be envisaged as a possible U.S. response to a first strike ordered by Pyongyang.

An unarmed Trident II D5 missile launches from the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Nebraska (SSBN 739) off the coast of California., U.S. NAVY/MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST 1ST CLASS RONALD GUTRIDGE


In an interview with NPR, Woodward cleared up any confusion, noting that the 80 nuclear weapons were part of a U.S. attack plan — OPLAN 5027, which would include ‘decapitating’ the North Korean regime of dictator Kim Jong-un.

“I think given North Korea is a rogue nation, they have, as I report, probably a couple of dozen nuclear weapons well-hidden and concealed,” Woodward explained to NPR. The veteran journalist confirmed that the then U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis was worried he might have to issue orders for a nuclear strike on North Korea. “The potential we’d have to shoot to prevent a second launch was real,” Mattis admitted.

“You’re going to incinerate a couple million people,” Mattis told himself, according to Woodward. “No person has the right to kill a million people as far as I’m concerned, yet that’s what I have to confront.”

Secretary Mattis departs an E-4B airborne command post. , DoD


According to Woodward, Trump was worried that shooting down a North Korean ballistic missile (nuclear-armed or otherwise) on a trajectory headed toward the United States could prompt a full-scale nuclear attack from the “Hermit Kingdom.” Woodward writes that Trump had delegated authority to Jim Mattis to launch a conventionally armed interceptor missile to shoot down any North Korean missile that might be headed for the United States.