Pyongyang: North Korea has conducted artillery firing drills to bolster its combat readiness posture, the North's state media reported, as South Korea and the United States prepare to kick off their joint military exercise next week. Tactical artillery subunits of the North's military conducted a "firing practice contest" in accordance with a combat drill plan from the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, as reported by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

According to Yonhap News Agency, the North's move came a week before Seoul and Washington are scheduled to launch their annual summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, set for August 18-28. North Korea stated that the firing contest aimed at "perfecting the capability to fight a war and battle readiness of the entire army."

The firing drills "served as an occasion to demonstrate the strong will of the army to thoroughly contain military gangsters in the land adjacent to the border and reliably defend the security," the KCNA said in an English-language statement. The latest exercise was overseen by Pak Jong-chon, vice chairman of the ruling party's Central Military Commission, although North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not attend.

The drills are part of North Korea's regular summertime military exercises, conducted from July to September, and the regime appears to have publicly disclosed them in response to the upcoming Seoul-Washington military exercise, an official at South Korea's unification ministry noted. The disclosed drills do not appear to be large-scale, the official said, citing the smaller-than-usual number of weapons involved and their relatively low-level sophistication, as well as the absence of Kim.

In the past five years, Kim has skipped supervising the military's artillery firing drills only twice previously, in November 2021 and February 2023, according to the official. He added that South Korea needs to wait and see if North Korea will take further action in response to the UFS.

North Korea has long denounced military exercises between South Korea and the U.S. as rehearsals for an invasion, while the allies maintain that the joint drills are defensive in nature. North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang-chol warned that Pyongyang will take its "self-defense" measures in the event of any provocation, denouncing Seoul and Washington's planned large-scale military exercise.