The drill, carried out on Thursday, involved units near the
border that are in firing range of "the enemy's capital," KCNA
said, referring to the South Korean capital of nearly 10 million
residents and added it "fulfilled important military missions
for war deterrence".
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said North Korea's
military test-fired multiple rocket launcher shells and
self-propelled artillery shells toward the Yellow Sea between 11
a.m. (0200 GMT) and 5 p.m.(0800 GMT) on Thursday.
The JCS said it was monitoring the North's military activities
as joint drills conducted by South Korean and U.S. militaries
are underway. The drills, known as the Freedom Shield exercises,
began on Monday with twice the number of troops joining compared
to last year.
North Korea has also made "multiple attempts" to jam GPS signals
near the border in South Korea since Tuesday, the JCS said in a
separate statement, adding no damage was caused but warning of
consequences.
Thursday's artillery drill by North Korea aimed to increase
combat readiness and war capability, KCNA said.
Kim urged the military to push forward with preparations so the
artillery sub-units could "take the initiative with merciless
and rapid strikes at the moment of their entry into an actual
war".
"He stressed the need to train all the artillery men of the
whole army into experts in artillery engagement ... and set
forth important tasks for rounding off the artillery war
preparations," the report said, referring to the leader of the
reclusive state.
Photographs published by KCNA showed balls of flame from
artillery fire and Kim dressed in a black leather jacket and
flanked by soldiers watching from a dug out.
Seoul's defence minister, Shin Won-sik, visited the Capital
Defense Command on Thursday and ordered a firm response if North
Korea made provocations aimed at the capital.
Earlier this week, the North Korean state media said Kim
inspected field training of troops at a major military
operations base in the western region of the country.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin;
Editing by Diane Craft, Daniel Wallis and Barbara Lewis)
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