(SEOUL) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un piloted a “new type of battle tank” during a military exercise in North Korea as the United States and South Korea hold joint maneuvers, the official KCNA agency said Thursday.
Wearing a black leather jacket, Kim Jong-un oversaw military exercises and greeted North Korean soldiers in camouflage, according to images broadcast by KCNA.
After reviewing the tank crews, the leader “loaded into a new type of battle tank, grabbed the control lever and drove the tank himself,” the government agency described.
Photo agency KCNA/Agence France-Presse
Kim Jong-un runs the tank
Kim Jong-un said he was very satisfied with the tank's “superior strike power.” He underlined “the importance of tankers' role and responsibility in modern warfare” and, according to the same source, insisted on “organizing detailed exercises simulating a real war”.
The North Korean drills took place on the last day of Washington and Seoul's annual spring military drills, which doubled the number of troops participating this year compared to 2023, to better respond to growing nuclear threats from Pyongyang, they said. .
Nuclear-armed North Korea has long condemned the drills, viewing them as a rehearsal for an invasion of its territory. Pyongyang has previously conducted weapons tests in response to these types of joint exercises.
Since the beginning of the year, Pyongyang has designated South Korea as its “main enemy,” shuttered institutions dedicated to reunification and inter-Korean dialogue, and threatened war over its border “to the extent of 0.001 millimeter.”
