Seoul: Ahead of a large parade on Tuesday, state media reported that the top military officials in North Korea have declared they will expand and intensify military drills to ensure their readiness for war.
The promise was made during a meeting on Monday presided over by leader Kim Jong Un and comes after joint air drills between South Korea and the US were held last week.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency, the top item on the agenda was "the issue of constantly expanding and intensifying the operation and combat drills of the (Korean People's Army)... strictly perfecting the preparedness for war."
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The Central Military Commission of North Korea is meeting as "extensive parade preparations" are reportedly under way in Pyongyang in advance of significant state holidays this month, according to commercial satellite imagery.
On Wednesday, North Korea commemorates the establishment of its armed forces, and on February 16, it observes the "Day of the Shining Star." The latter is the birthday of Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un and the son of North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung.
After a year of weapons tests that violated sanctions, Seoul and Washington have taken steps to strengthen joint military exercises, angering Pyongyang, which views them as invasion drills.
Strategic bombers and stealth fighters were used in joint air drills last week, which prompted Pyongyang to warn that they could "ignite an all-out showdown."
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The first joint exercises of the year came a day after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart pledged to increase security cooperation in order to counter a nuclear-armed North that is becoming more aggressive.
The decision to increase joint drills, according to North Korea's foreign minister, "crossed an extreme red line."
According to experts, the top brass of North Korea met on Monday to emphasise the nation's readiness to counter upcoming joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States as well as stress that it was ready for an actual war.
In the name of operational and combat training and war readiness, North Korea is making suggestions about potential future military action, according to Hong Min, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification. Kim recently demanded that Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal be expanded "exponentially," including by mass-producing tactical nukes and creating new missiles for nuke counterstrikes.
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Kim has also stated that in order to counter what Pyongyang perceives as US and South Korean hostility, his nation must "overwhelmingly beef up military muscle" in 2023.