North Korea's Kim Jong Un oversees air drills, calls for stepped-up war preparation
Kim, who inspected anti-aircraft combat and air strike drills by North Korea's 1st Air Division on Thursday, called for 'all units in the entire military' to bring about 'a breakthrough in war preparation', KCNA reported.
Footage of the drills on North Korean state TV showed a MiG-29 jet launching a missile, which appeared to be a North Korean version of a Russia-developed mid- to long-range air-to-air missile, said Hong Min, North Korea analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
So far this month, Kim has overseen a missile test, inspected tank and munitions plants, made a rare visit to the Russian embassy in Pyongyang reaffirming the country's alliance with Russia, and supervised tank firing drills and special operations unit training.
North Korea also slammed the U.S. State Department for placing it on a list of countries that do not fully cooperate with U.S. counterterrorism efforts. Pyongyang has been placed on the list every year since 1997, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said.
'The more the U.S. provokes the DPRK with unnecessary and inefficient malicious acts, the further it will escalate the irreconcilable hostility between the DPRK and the U.S.,' a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, using the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
'The DPRK will... take effective and proper measures to cope with the U.S. hostile provocations in all spheres.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malaysia Sun
4 minutes ago
- Malaysia Sun
Millions take part in Moscow festival celebrating Indias culture
Record crowds joined a festival marking South Asian nations 78th independence India Day festivities in Moscow last week recorded 2.7 million visitors, according to the organizers. The four-day celebration in the Russian capital mixed yoga sessions, dance performance and Holi traditions with official ceremonies and awards. The festival was attended by India's Ambassador to Russia Vinay Kumar, Moscow Government Minister Sergey Cheremin, and officials from dozens of countries, according to festival founder and President of the Indian Cultural and National Center Sita Sammy Kotwani. This year's program included the launch of the India Day awards, the jury for which featured Anton Kobyakov, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova and Mosfilm director Karen Shakhnazarov. Awards were presented in ten categories such as yoga, Ayurveda, literature, business and humanitarian initiatives. The festival coincided with India's 79th Independence Day, marked on 15 August. The date commemorates India's liberation from British rule in 1947 and its emergence as a sovereign state. Independence Day is among the country's key national holidays and is observed annually with flag-raising ceremonies, cultural events and tributes to leaders of the independence movement. The event also coincided with an official visit to Russia by Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, who is scheduled to hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday. As part of the celebrations and to highlight close ties between the two countries, landmark buildings along Moscow's Novy Arbat Avenue were lit in the colors of the Indian flag, the Indian Embassy said in a post on X. (
Free Malaysia Today
an hour ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Ukraine says overnight Russian attack shows Putin does not want peace
Ukrainian residents embrace after a Russian missile hit a multi-storey apartment in an overnight drone attack. (AP pic) KYIV : Russia attacked the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk with drones overnight, the city mayor said on Tuesday, calling it a sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want peace. The reported assault came a day after US President Donald Trump met European leaders and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, saying the US would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there. After the meeting on Monday, Trump said he telephoned Putin and began arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelensky to be followed by a trilateral summit among the three presidents, with the aim of reaching a peace deal. 'At the very same time when Putin was assuring Trump over the phone that he seeks peace, and when President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was holding talks at the White House with European leaders about a just peace, Putin's army launched yet another massive attack on Kremenchuk,' Vitalii Maletskyi, mayor of the city that lies in the Poltava region, said on Telegram. 'Once again, the world has seen that Putin does not want peace – he wants to destroy Ukraine,' he said. The overnight attack on Ukraine was the largest so far in August, with Russia launching 270 drones and 10 missiles, according to the Ukrainian air force. Maletskyi said scores of blasts shook the city, targeting energy and transport infrastructure, leaving hundreds of people in the Poltava region without power. The Ukrainian air force said it downed 230 drones and six missiles but recorded strikes at 16 locations. Poltava Governor Volodymyr Kohut said that the attack damaged administrative buildings of a local energy infrastructure operation. 'Fortunately, there were no casualties,' Kohut said on Telegram. He said that in the Lubny district nearly 1,500 residential and 119 commercial customers were left without power. A Tuesday morning drone attack by Russia on Ukraine's Chernihiv region also damaged infrastructure, with power cuts reported in parts of the northern region, according to Governor Viacheslav Chaus. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both sides have been targeting infrastructure key to the military in their strikes during the war on each other's territory, including energy infrastructure. Russia said on Tuesday that Ukraine's overnight drone attack sparked fires at an oil refinery and a hospital roof in the Volgograd region.
Free Malaysia Today
an hour ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Putin suggested Moscow for Zelensky summit
Geneva was also suggested as a venue, with Switzerland offering Vladimir Putin immunity for Ukraine peace talks despite ICC charges. (AFP pic) KYIV : Vladimir Putin proposed holding a peace summit with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in Moscow, according to three sources familiar with a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russia's leader. The discussion between Trump and Putin came during high-stakes talks in Washington between Trump, Zelensky and several European leaders that back Ukraine in its fighting against Russia's invasion. 'Putin mentioned Moscow' during their call on Monday, one of the sources told AFP, adding that Zelensky had said 'no' in response. A diplomatic source close to the discussions said that European leaders had told Trump that Putin's proposal 'did not seem like a good idea.' After the summit in the White House on Monday that included the German, French, Finnish, Italian and UK leaders, Trump said a next step to stopping the fighting, now in its fourth year, would be a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelensky. The Ukrainian leader has said repeatedly in recent weeks that he is prepared to sit down with Putin to end the Russian invasion, which has cost tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions. Putin told Trump during the call on Monday that he was open to the 'idea' of direct talks with Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said, according to state media. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that any meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents would have to be prepared 'very thoroughly.' Switzerland, meanwhile, had said earlier that it would grant Putin immunity if he came to the country for talks on peace in Ukraine, despite the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant. Trump met with Putin last week in the northern US state of Alaska, ending a years-long Western policy of isolating Putin. The US leader walked away from the meeting without any guarantees of peace from the Russian president.
