Kim Jong Un calls for war preparations amid U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise

SEOUL, March 7 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited an army training base and called for intensifying drills to prepare for war, state-run media reported Thursday, as U.S. and South Korean forces conducted a large-scale joint military exercise.

Kim was joined by high-ranking defense officials at the military base in the western region of the country, where he oversaw drills in an "environment little different from actual war," Korean Central News Agency reported.

"Stressing the need for the [Korean People's Army] to further intensify the training at present, [Kim] set forth the important tasks for intensifying the practical actual-war drills ensuring the victory in a war," KCNA said.

Images released by state media showed Kim, wearing a leather jacket, observing North Korean troops firing rifles and rocket launchers. One photo showed the North Korean leader holding an assault rifle in firing position.

The visit came as the United States and South Korea continued their annual Freedom Shield exercise, which kicked off on Monday.

The 11-day exercise has a focus on countering threats from the nuclear-armed North and includes 48 joint field drills, almost twice as many as last year.

In connection with Freedom Shield, on Thursday South Korean fighter jets staged a live-fire exercise over the Yellow Sea to boost readiness against North Korean cruise missile and artillery threats, the South's Air Force said in a press release.

North Korea regularly condemns the allies' joint exercises as rehearsals for an invasion and has used the drills in the past as a pretext for its own missile tests. Freedom Shield is the first joint exercise since the North scrapped a 2018 inter-Korean military accord meant to reduce tensions along the border, raising additional concerns over a provocative response from Pyongyang.

Earlier this week, North Korea's Defense Ministry condemned the Freedom Shield exercise as part of a "military threat to a sovereign state" and warned that Seoul and Washington will be "made to pay a dear price."

North Korea has not conducted a missile launch since Feb. 14, after starting off the year with a flurry of weapons tests and artillery fire near the inter-Korean maritime border.

Tensions remain at their highest point in years on the Korean Peninsula, however, with Kim labeling Seoul the "principal enemy" last month and publicly rejecting the long-held goal of reunification.

The United States and South Korea, meanwhile, have increased their military cooperation over the past several months, with expanded drills and the deployment of U.S. assets such as aircraft carriers, a B-52 nuclear bomber and a nuclear ballistic missile submarine to the Korean Peninsula.