In the images shared, Kim is seen alongside his daughter, whose age and name have not been revealed (although it is believed she could be named Kim Ju-ae).
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, supervised military exercises alongside his daughter in which the country’s paratroopers participated and called for complete war preparations, state media said on Saturday.
“He stressed the need for all military personnel to arm themselves firmly with strong will against the enemy and a deep combat vision to change history if a war breaks out,” the state-run KCNA agency said.
In the images shared, Kim is seen alongside his daughter, whose age and name have not been revealed (although it is believed she could be named Kim Ju-ae), both dressed in leather trench coats: black for the father and brown for the daughter.
The younger one is seen overseeing the maneuvers with binoculars, further demonstrating the prominent role the North Korean leader would like to give his daughter, the intention of which is still unknown.
The young girl appeared in state media for the first time on November 19, 2022, when she accompanied her father to witness the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The current exercises would be a response to the recent annual military maneuvers by South Korea and the U.S., which concluded on Thursday after eleven days and aimed to strengthen military and deterrent capabilities against the North Korean threat.
The South Korean and U.S. armies announced on Thursday the end of “Freedom Shield,” their traditional spring war games largely focused on computer simulations and command post exercises.
However, this year’s maneuvers, which began on March 4, included operations on land, sea, and air and even employed scenarios where the objective was to “respond to North Korean nuclear operations.”
This fictional scenario mentioned “operations” but did not imply the use of nuclear weapons by Pyongyang per se, a scenario expected to be present in the major combined drills that Seoul and Washington will conduct in the summer.
To conclude “Freedom Shield” this year, the South Korean army conducted live-fire exercises today in Pocheon, about 25 kilometers south of the border with the North, involving a mechanized infantry division alongside a combined South Korea-U.S. engineering unit.
About 300 personnel took part in the drill, which involved K1A2 tanks, K21 armored vehicles, K30 Biho self-propelled artillery, and M60 armored bridge layers.
Pyongyang, which views these annual spring exercises as a rehearsal for invading its territory, has responded, with active participation from Kim Jong-un, with its own drills since “Freedom Shield” began 11 days ago.
First, Kim visited a training base on the western flank last week where he urged to “intensify” his army’s military maneuvers, aiming “to achieve victory in a real war.”
Days later, the North Korean leader himself directed artillery drills with live fire and sent a provocative message to the South, indicating that a border unit that has Seoul “within its firing range” participated in this exercise.
It is believed that the North Korean army has long-range artillery units located near the western flank of the inter-Korean border that technically have the ability to reach points in the southern capital.
Just hours later, the South Korean Air Forces responded by parading, for the first time, all operational combat fighter models.
During the event, the South Korean army emphasized that it has a quick-response air squadron for the front line tasked with defending the metropolitan area of Seoul, which, in case of an attack, is tasked with supporting the destruction of the aforementioned North Korean batteries.
