North Korea’s Kim orders military to bolster war plans

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the military to sharpen its war plans amid high tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the U.S. and South Korea prepare joint military drills, according to state media.

Kim directed a meeting of the country’s central military commission, which he leads as chairman, to discuss making the army “more thoroughly gird” for war and establishing “offensive military countermeasures” to deter adversaries, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The outlet stated that adversaries “are getting ever more undisguised in their reckless military confrontation” with North Korea. 

Kim has condemned the U.S. and South Korea’s war drills, using them as grounds to accelerate his weapons demonstrations. Pyongyang has conducted more than 100 missile launches since early 2022.

During Thursday’s meeting, Kim signed an order implementing unspecified “important military measures,” according to KCNA. He called for stepping up North Korea’s war preparations, including “securing more powerful strike means” and “conducting actual war drills,” state media said.  

Photos of the meeting published by state media showed Kim pointing to spots in a blurred map of the Korean Peninsula, which appeared to be the metropolitan region surrounding the South Korean capital of Seoul and an area surrounding the central city of Daejeon, the location of South Korea’s army headquarters. 

Kim also dismissed Gen. Pak Su II from his position as the chief of the General Staff and appointed Vice Marshal Ri Yong Gil to replace him, according to KCNA. Ri served a lengthy term as chief of general state, Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior analyst at South Korea’s Sejong Institute, told The Associated Press.

Ahn Eun-jun, a spokesperson at South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, said it was “deplorable” for North Korea to discuss increasing war readiness while ignoring the country’s poor population.

Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities were closely monitoring North Korean weapons development actions.

The Associated Press contributed.