Kim Jong Un inspects cruise missile test amid South Korea-US joint drills

In an apparent response to the joint military drills between South Korea and the US North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a navy unit and inspected a cruise missile test aboard a warship Yonhap news agency reported citing Pyongyangs state media KCNA on MondayKim inspected the Guards 2nd Surface Ship Flotilla of the East Sea Fleet of the navy of the Korean Peoples Army KPA KCNA said without disclosing the time of his visitHe also watched the seamen on the patrol ship stage a drill in which it testlaunched strategic cruise missiles verifying the ships regular posture for mobilization and offensive abilityAt 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 the target without even an error Yonhap news agency cited the KCNA reportSouth Korea and the US kicked off the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield UFS exercise on Monday featuring various contingency drills such as the computer simulationbased command post exercise concurrent field training and Ulchi civil defence drills The exercise will run until August 31Notably this development comes after the leaders of South Korea Japan and the US during their trilateral summit at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland last week had reaffirmed their commitment towards complete denuclearizationacirciquest by North Korea in accordance with relevant UNSC resolutions and had urged Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programsFurthermore we reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea DPRK in accordance with relevant UNSC resolutions and urge the DPRK to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs We call on all UN Member States to fully implement all relevant UNSC resolutions We strongly condemn the DPRKs unprecedented number of ballistic missile launches including multiple intercontinental ballistic missile ICBM launches and conventional military actions that pose a grave threat to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and beyond the joint statement readMeanwhile Kim has vowed to strengthen the Norths navy to make it an allround and powerful service group with improved combat efficiency and modern means of surface and underwater offensive and defensive capabilities KCNA reportedNorth 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 saidThe 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 SeoulWashington military exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion Yonhap news agency reportedKim has also called for a drastic boost of the countrys missile production capacity and war contingency preparations in an offensive manner during his latest visit to major munitions factoriesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever