{"id":38398,"date":"2023-08-14T09:52:43","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T16:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/?p=38398"},"modified":"2023-08-14T09:52:44","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T16:52:44","slug":"kim-jong-un-orders-drastic-missile-boost-ahead-of-us-south-korean-drills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/kim-jong-un-orders-drastic-missile-boost-ahead-of-us-south-korean-drills\/","title":{"rendered":"Kim Jong-un orders &#8220;drastic&#8221; missile boost ahead of US-South Korean drills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Pyongyang, North Korea &#8211;\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tag24.com\/world\/north-korea\" target=\"_blank\">North Korean<\/a><strong>\u00a0leader Kim Jong-un called for a &#8220;drastic boost&#8221; in missile production during visits to key weapons factories, state media said Monday, as South Korea and the US prepare for joint drills next week.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tour of the plants from Friday to Saturday came after Kim called for stepping up war preparations at a key military meeting last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kim&#8217;s two-day inspections included visits to factories producing tactical missiles and armored combat vehicles, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the tactical missile factory visit, Kim &#8220;expressed satisfaction&#8221; as the plant had &#8220;perfected the scientific and technological issues arising in production&#8221; and pushed ahead with the modernization of the weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&#8220;He set forth an important goal to drastically boost the existing missile production capacity&#8221; and underlined the factory&#8217;s role in &#8220;speeding up&#8221; war preparations, KCNA said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected more weapons factories in recent days, according to state media, including those producing short-range nuclear missiles, launch vehicles and armored vehicles. More from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nknewsorg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@nknewsorg<\/a> soon <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zxGcIVYV0D\">pic.twitter.com\/zxGcIVYV0D<\/a><\/p>&mdash; NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nknewsorg\/status\/1690833247645941760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 13, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Kim stressed the &#8220;need to ensure a boost in the production of shells&#8221; and personally drove an armored combat vehicle, according to the report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Photos carried by the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed a beaming Kim seated in the driver&#8217;s seat of a &#8220;newly-developed utility combat armored vehicle&#8221; as he took it out for a test drive surrounded by three officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kim also inspected a factory producing transporter erector launchers \u2013 vehicles for transporting and launching tactical missiles \u2013 and stressed the importance of developing and producing the mobile platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The North Korean army should have an &#8220;overwhelming military force&#8221; and be &#8220;fully prepared for coping with any war at any moment&#8221; against the enemy, Kim said, adding they must &#8220;surely annihilate them if they launch an attack,&#8221; KCNA reported.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">US and South Korea set for more military exercises<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The inspections come as South Korea and the US prepare for the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise set to take place August 21 through August 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>North Korea views such exercises as rehearsals for an invasion and has repeatedly warned it would take &#8220;overwhelming&#8221; action in response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Seoul&#8217;s Joint Chiefs of Staff on Monday described the upcoming joint drills as &#8220;a tough and realistic exercise to strengthen the combined defense posture and alliance response capabilities.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US, South Korea, and Japan are also set to hold a trilateral summit in Washington DC on Friday, as they seek to bolster security cooperation in response to North Korea&#8217;s growing nuclear and missile threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">ROK, US announce UFS23<br><br>The ROK &amp; U.S. will conduct\u00a0Ulchi Freedom Shield,\u00a0an 11-day,\u00a0joint,\u00a0combined &amp;\u00a0interagency\u00a0exercise from Aug. 21-31.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/moRg9dql3g\">https:\/\/t.co\/moRg9dql3g<\/a><\/p>&mdash; U.S. Forces Korea (@USForcesKorea) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/USForcesKorea\/status\/1690924855527632897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 14, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pyongyang, North Korea &#8211;\u00a0North Korean\u00a0leader Kim Jong-un called for a &#8220;drastic boost&#8221; in missile production during visits to key weapons factories, state media said Monday, as South Korea and the US prepare for joint drills next week. The tour of the plants from Friday to Saturday came after Kim called for stepping up war preparations [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":754,"featured_media":21409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[269],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cww7news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/northkoreamis-e1692031953464.png?fit=700%2C376&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/754"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38399,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38398\/revisions\/38399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cww7news.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}