DPRK leader guides artillery drill

PYONGYANG - Kim Jong Un, the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), on Thursday guided an intensive artillery drill, the official KCNA news agency reported Friday.

The drill mobilized artillery subunits of the defense detachments on islets in the Yellow Sea and mid- and long-range artillery subunits, it said.

Kim said that should a war break out, such deadly strike should be inflicted on South Korean forces to thwart their attempt of counteraction at the start and wipe them out.

Kim expressed his satisfaction with the drill, adding that the Workers' Party of Korea has high expectations of the artillery force, which is the military's "iron fist in a war for national reunification."

He also said that the year 2017 is significant as it marks the 105th anniversary of the birth of late leader Kim Il Sung and the 75th anniversary of the birth of late leader Kim Jong Il, his grandfather and father respectively, and the 85th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Army.

This was Kim's first on-site inspection after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a new resolution to tighten sanctions against the DPRK in response to the country's fifth and largest nuclear test on Sept 9.

Pyongyang on Thursday strongly condemned and categorically rejected the resolution, calling it "another excess of authority and violation of the DPRK's sovereignty."