Pyongyang conducts large-scale live-fire drills

North Korean state television on November 29 broadcast footage of leader Kim Jong Il and his son witnessing a large-scale live-fire military exercise.

South Korean warships during drills - Photo: Reuters

Footage showed Mr Kim and his son Kim Jong Un watching tanks, planes, warships and missile launchers fire at a series of targets on mountain slopes, with paratroopers jumping from a transport plane.

North Korean state television said the drills involved naval, ground and air forces since last September.

News related to leader Kim Jong Il is often broadcast by the country's media later than it happens.

Also on November 29, South Korea conducted live-fire drills at sea despite warnings of retaliation from the North.

The exercise took place in the Yellow Sea with a scenario of responding to the intrusion of warships and submarines of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Yonhap news agency quoted a statement from the South Korean Defense Ministry as saying.

“Today's drill shows our strong will not to accept provocations from the DPRK,” a defense ministry spokesman said.

The live-fire exercises were part of a large-scale exercise involving 20 destroyers, cruisers and warships of various types, along with helicopters and submarine detection aircraft.

(According to Tuoi Tre)