Prior to the commencement of joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, state media stated on Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un visited a naval unit and witnessed a test of a strategic cruise missile. In the East Sea, often known as the Sea of Japan, Kim examined one of his fleets and saw the crew practice firing “strategic cruise missiles,” according to state-run news agency KCNA.
Although it said that the missiles “rapidly hit target without even an error,” neither the date nor the specifics of the visit were provided. The declaration was made before to the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, a significant joint practice between Seoul and Washington that would go until August 31. They are intended to combat the nuclear-armed North’s increasing threats.
Such drills are seen as invasion practice, and Pyongyang has frequently threatened to respond with “overwhelming” force. Email assaults on South Korean contractors working at the joint exercise war simulation center were allegedly launched by suspected North Korean hackers in advance of the drills.
The news of the cruise missile test was also made only days after US President Joe Biden received Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea and Fumio Kishida of Japan at Camp David.
The leaders stated at a news conference on Friday that they anticipated a “new chapter” in tight three-way security cooperation after the summit, which was previously unimaginable because of Japan’s brutal 1910–1945 rule of the Korean peninsula. It was the first time the presidents of the three nations had a separate meeting, and although North Korea and China were both major topics of conversation, so did China.
The three leaders established a formal “commitment to consult” amid emergencies, with Biden announcing they would create a hotline, and they committed to a multi-year plan of routine exercises in all areas, expanding beyond one-off drills in reaction to Pyongyang. The presidents also decided to conduct talks annually and to exchange real-time information about North Korea.
