Kim Jong Un orders the North Korean army to prepare for a "royal war"

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the military to be prepared to fight and has called for intensified exercises after overseeing a “fire drill” that demonstrated the ability “to counter a real war.” as reported by Kyodo News.

The report came a day after North Korea fired at least one short-range ballistic missile from the western city of Nampo into the Yellow Sea.

The launch came ahead of a major joint military exercise known as “Freedom Shield” between South Korea and the United States next week.

Photos published by the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Korean Workers’ Party, showed six missiles fired simultaneously, as well as Kim with his daughter during the exercise on Thursday.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Kim led a unit trained for “strike missions in the defined and thorough warfare posture of containing any enemy military movement at once” that “fired a powerful volley into the target waters “.

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Kim urged the military to “always remain alert to all kinds of more frenzied warfare moves being made by the enemy of late,” and to be prepared “to overwhelmingly respond and contain them,” according to KCNA.

He also called on the assault units to intensify “various real war drills” and be prepared to carry out two missions that are “first to deter war and second to take the initiative in war.”

The KCNA report does not mention the type or volume of ordnance used on Thursday.

The “Freedom Shield” exercise is designed to strengthen the defensive posture of South Korea and the United States in the face of growing threats from North Korea. South Korea’s spy agency recently said the North may fire an intercontinental ballistic missile to coincide with the exercise.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula remain high: North Korea launched missiles a record 37 times last year.