Kim Jong-un Wants North Korean Military to Expand Exercises and Improve War Readiness Posture

JAKARTA - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to expand military drills and strengthen the country's war readiness posture, state media reported on Tuesday, as Pyongyang prepared to mark armed forces day.

Leader Kim presided over a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's central military commission on Monday, where officials discussed "key military and political tasks" for this year and "long-term issues regarding the orientation of military development," KCNA news agency said, February 7.

"It was studied and discussed there. The issue of continuously expanding and intensifying the KPA's combat operations and drills, to overcome the existing situation and more strictly perfect war readiness," KCNA said, referring to the Korean People's Army (KPA).

The meeting comes as North Korea is widely expected to hold a military parade, to mark the anniversary of the founding of the armed forces, on Wednesday.

Commercial satellite imagery shows North Korean troops training in formation in Pyongyang, with South Korea also saying it is monitoring increased activity.

Last Thursday, North Korea condemned the exercises by the United States and its allies, saying they had reached an "extreme red line", threatening it would turn the peninsula into a "big war arsenal and a more critical war zone."

In Thursday's statement, North Korea's Foreign Ministry condemned US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's visit to South Korea, saying Pyongyang was not interested in dialogue as long as Washington pursued a hostile policy.

Last Tuesday, Minister Austin and his South Korean counterpart said they would expand military exercises and deploy more "strategic assets", such as aircraft carriers and long-range bombers, to counter North Korea's weapons development and prevent war.

When asked about tensions with North Korea during the stop in the Philippines, Secretary Austin said the US goal is to promote greater security and stability and remains committed to defending South Korea.