Kim Jong Un spends some father-daughter time overseeing missile launch

Kim Jong Un spends some father-daughter time overseeing missile launch and threatening to attack South Korea by preparing for ‘real war’

• Kim’s daughter is believed to be named Kim Ju Ae and around 10 years old
• She has increasingly been in the public eye since missiles tests in November 

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has been pictured spending some quality father-daughter bonding time… while overseeing a missile launch and threatening to attack South Korea by preparing for war.

State media said on Friday that Kim had ordered the military to intensify drills to deter and respond to a ‘real war’ if necessary, and claimed the live fire demonstration overseen by the leader and his daughter proved the country’s capabilities.

The country’s military fired a short-range ballistic missile off its west coast on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, adding it was analysing possibilities the North may have launched multiple missiles simultaneously from the same area.

Pictures released by Pyongyang appeared to confirm that multiple missiles were fired. They showed at least six mobile missile systems stationed in a coastal area launching one missile each into the sky, leaving a blazing trail behind them.

Kim watched the launch from a bunker along with military officials and his daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae and around 10 years old.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un (seen sitting at a desk) has been pictured spending some valuable father-daughter bonding time… while overseeing a missile launch and threatening to attack South Korea by preparing for war

Kim (centre) watched the launch from a bunker along with military officials and his daughter (left), believed to be named Kim Ju Ae and around 10 years old

Pictures released by Pyongyang appeared to confirm that multiple missiles were fired. They showed at least six mobile missile systems stationed on a small island firing launching one missile each into the sky, leaving a blazing trail behind them (pictured)

She has appeared at several events tied to his military since first being showcased at a missile test launch in November. 

Analysts believe the events and elevated descriptions of her in state media are meant to show the world he has no intention to voluntarily surrender his nuclear weapons, which he apparently sees as the strongest guarantee of his survival and the extension of his family’s dynastic rule. 

In the latest images, Kim is sat at a large wooden desk inside the observation post. His daughter is sat on a small chair over his right shoulder, while military officials are all standing, huddled together along a wall to Kim’s left as they watch the launches.  

KCNA (Korean Central News Agency) said a unit trained for ‘strike missions’ fired a ‘powerful volley at the targeted waters’ and demonstrated its capability to ‘counter an actual war.’

‘(Kim) stressed that the fire assault sub-units should be strictly prepared for the greatest perfection in carrying out the two strategic missions, that is, first to deter war and second to take the initiative in war, by steadily intensifying various simulated drills for real war …,’ KCNA said.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said his country would step up combined military drills with the United States and enhance joint planning and execution of US extended deterrence against the North’s nuclear and missile threats.

‘We will build an overwhelming response capability and retaliation posture,’ Yoon said at a commissioning ceremony for naval academy graduates in the southeastern city of Changwon, adding that the security situation surrounding the Korean peninsula was ‘more serious than ever.’

The South’s joint chiefs of staff was assessing whether more missiles than the six pictured may have been launched simultaneously.

The KCNA report did not specify what types of weapons were involved in Thursday’s exercise or how many rockets were fired. 

Some of the North’s newer short-range weapons targeting South Korea include large-sized multiple rocket launchers which experts say blur the boundaries between artillery and ballistic missile systems. 

The North describes some of its advanced short-range systems as tactical weapons, which implies an intent to arm them with lower-yield battlefield nuclear weapons.

Seoul has been seeking to strengthen extended deterrence, the ability of the US military to deter attacks with its nuclear umbrella, amid growing calls within South Korea for the country to develop its own nuclear capability to counter threats.

The latest missile launches came as the United States and South Korea were set to kick off large-scale military exercises known as the Freedom Shield drills next week. North Korea has long bristled at the allies’ drills as a rehearsal for invasion.

Kim’s daughter (right) has appeared at several events tied to his military since first being showcased at a missile test launch in November. Analysts believe the events and elevated descriptions of her in state media are meant to show the world he has no intention to voluntarily surrender his nuclear weapons

Pictured: Five rockets are launched from mobile missile launchers in an image released by North Korean state media, amid tensions between Pyongyang and South Korea

The US has recently sent long-range B-1B and B-52 bombers for several rounds of joint aerial drills with South Korean warplanes.

North Korean leader Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, said earlier this week any move to shoot down one of its test missiles would be considered a declaration of war and blamed the joint military exercises for growing tensions.

Yang Uk, a research fellow and defence expert at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said North Korea has been increasingly claiming that its smaller missiles are nuclear-capable, in apparent threats to South Korea.

‘North Korea doesn’t appear to have developed miniaturised nuclear warheads to be loaded on cruise or tactical ballistic missiles yet, but it’s clear that’s where they are headed to,’ Yang said.

The United States will hold an informal meeting of United Nations Security Council members next week on human rights abuses in North Korea, a move likely to anger Pyongyang and spur opposition from China and Russia.

Experts say the North with the wording is communicating a threat to proactively use those weapons during conventional warfare to blunt the stronger conventional forces of South Korea and the US, which keeps about 28,000 troops in South Korea to help deter potential aggression from North Korea.

Mr Kim’s comments were in line with an escalatory nuclear doctrine the North set into law last year, which authorises preemptive nuclear strikes in situations where it may perceive its leadership as under threat, including conventional clashes.

Coming off a record year in missile testing, North Korea has conducted additional weapons demonstrations in 2023. 

Experts say North Korea with its heightened testing activity and threats is trying to claim a dual ability to conduct nuclear strikes against South Korea and the US mainland.

Mr Kim’s campaign is aimed at forcing the US into accepting the North as a nuclear power and negotiating badly needed economic concessions from a position of strength, analysts say. 

Diplomacy between the US and North Korea has stalled since 2019.

The South Korean and US militaries will conduct computer-simulated command post training from March 13-23 and will resume their largest springtime field exercises, which were last held in 2018.

This photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it says is an artillery drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, Thursday, March 9

Pictured: Six missile arc into the skies over North Korea in a drill said to be on March 9

The allies’ regular drills were cancelled or scaled back to support diplomacy or because of the Covid pandemic but they renewed them after the diplomacy collapsed and North Korea’s threats and weapons testing escalated.

On Tuesday, Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s powerful sister and one of Pyongyang’s top foreign policy officials, said her country is ready if necessary to take “quick, overwhelming action” in the face of the allies’ expanded drills.

In previous statements, she threatened to turn the Pacific into North Korea’s firing range and repeatedly implied that the North might test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) toward those waters on a standard ballistic trajectory, which would be seen as one of its most provocative weapons demonstrations yet.

All of North Korea’s ICBM tests since 2017 have been conducted on a high angle to avoid the territories of neighbours.

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