Pyongyang has broken with much of its inter-Korean policy in recent years and ramped up weapons testing.
The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the drills were aimed at testing the “real war capabilities” of 600-millimetre (23 inches) multiple rocket launchers.
The exercises also involved simulating an aerial explosion of a shell at a predetermined altitude above the target, KCNA said.
“They fully demonstrated their excellent crack-shot artillery marksmanship and prompt and thorough combat readiness,” KCNA said.
Kim, who has overseen multiple tests in recent years as he pursues his plan to modernise North Korea’s military, said the rocket launchers would provide the “core central striking means” in war preparations.
“The destructive offensive means possessed by our army should more thoroughly fulfil their missions to block and suppress the possibility of war with the constant perfect preparedness to collapse the capital of the enemy and the structure of its military forces,” Kim told the troops, according to KCNA.
Seoul’s military announced on Monday it had detected the launch of “multiple short-range ballistic missiles” from North Korea.
The super-large multiple rocket launcher, referred to as KN-25 by Seoul and Washington, is a short-range ballistic missile, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
“The Kim regime’s one-upmanship aims to show strength to its domestic audience, suggest costs on the Korean Peninsula for Seoul’s international security cooperation, and warn Washington against increasing pressure on Pyongyang,” Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, wrote in emailed comments about the latest tests.
