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North Korea Conducts Firepower Drill Following Trilateral Military Exercise

morning · · thread: North Korea Condemns NATO Fuel Network Modernization as War Preparation

7 sources across 5 countries · 1 of them is linked to a state

Who reported this

  • Asahi Shimbun Japan · Centre-left · Asahi Shimbun Company (family and employee held)
  • Kyodo News Japan · Centre · Non-profit publisher cooperative
  • Yonhap South Korea · Centre · State-affiliated · Cooperative; statutory national agency with state subsidy
  • The Korea Herald South Korea · Centre-right · Herald Corporation (Yeongpoong Group)
  • South China Morning Post Hong Kong · Centre-right · Alibaba Group
  • Telex Hungary · Centre · Reader-funded, staff-owned
  • Reuters United Kingdom · Centre · Thomson Reuters Corporation

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.

Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.

The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.

North Korea conducted a joint firepower strike drill on September 12 involving artillery and missile units, according to the state run Korean Central News Agency. The exercise featured various weapon systems, including attack drones, tactical cruise missiles, tactical ballistic missiles, and large caliber thermal pressure multiple rocket launchers. North Korean state media claimed that all weapon systems hit their targets with 100 percent accuracy, demonstrating the destructive power of concentrated fire. The drill was supervised by Pak Jong chon, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, rather than leader Kim Jong un.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff reported detecting multiple short range ballistic missiles launched from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea on Saturday. These missiles traveled approximately 250 kilometers. Some reports identified the weapons as Hwasong 11 series short range ballistic missiles and rounds from 600 millimeter super large multiple rocket launchers. This activity marked the 13th ballistic missile launch by North Korea this year.

The drill occurred one day after South Korea, the United States, and Japan concluded a five day military exercise called Freedom Edge. North Korean Defense Minister Kim Song gi criticized the trilateral exercise as a U.S. led provocation. Some reports noted that the Freedom Edge drills proceeded despite the scaling back of the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise by the U.S. and South Korea following an order from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has expressed a desire to meet with Kim Jong un this year.

Observers noted a departure from typical state media patterns, as the drill was reported by the KCNA, which primarily targets foreign audiences, but was not mentioned in the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper for domestic audiences.

How each side framed it

Centre-left
This outlet focused on the absence of Kim Jong un and the specific reporting of the launch by the South Korean military.
Centre
These outlets focused on the technical details of the weapons and the chronological link to the trilateral exercises.
Centre-right
These outlets emphasized the destructive power of the weapons and their specific capability to strike targets within South Korea.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.