North Korea Claims Live-Fire Drill Showed 'Huge Destructive Power'

North Korea said Monday that a joint live-fire drill held over the weekend involving missiles, artillery and drones demonstrated what it described as the "huge destructive power of concentration fire."

The state-run Korean Central News Agency said the exercise, conducted on Saturday, was intended to familiarise troops with the operating procedures of an integrated firepower control system.

Marshal Pak Jong Chon, who observed the drill, said it would "improve the level of specialization to bring down the enemy's armed forces organizationally and structurally once an order is issued." He added that the weapons systems deployed had shown the destructive power of concentrated fire, according to KCNA.

South Korea's military had earlier reported detecting short-range ballistic missile launches from the Wonsan area on the country's eastern coast on Saturday morning. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said several missiles flew roughly 250 kilometres (155 miles) each toward North Korea's eastern waters — distances suggesting the weapons are designed to strike targets in South Korea.

The firing drill marked North Korea's first public ballistic missile launches in about three weeks. Claims made by Pyongyang about its weapons tests are extremely difficult to verify independently.

The exercise comes after U.S. President Donald Trump scaled back a major bilateral military drill with South Korea last month, citing what he called a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The move appeared aimed at reviving diplomacy between the two sides, but North Korea rejected the overture, saying that merely shortening the drill would not change its "provocative, aggressive nature."

Experts say Kim likely believes he holds greater leverage in any future diplomacy with the United States than during his first meetings with Trump in 2018-2019, buoyed by an advancing nuclear arsenal and deepened ties with Russia and China. Kim said earlier this year that he could return to talks if Washington drops its "hostile policy" toward his country and respects what he calls the North's status as a nuclear state.