North Korea turns off lights, conducts large-scale evacuation drill

North Korea conducts evacuation drills with all lights off to avoid detection by enemies.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and military officials. Photo: KCNA

Sources in North Korea said rare military exercises were conducted in second- and third-tier cities and towns over the past week. The capital Pyongyang did not hold such drills,NK News reported on October 28.

During the operation, the people practiced evacuation when the entire town turned off all the lights at night to avoid being detected by the enemy.

"I have never heard of North Korea conducting this type of training, but I am not surprised,"Chun In-bum, a former South Korean military officer, said.

NK News quoted an unnamed source as saying that the last time such a large-scale exercise was held was in 2003.

The exercise comes amid rising US-North Korea tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.US Defense Secretary James Mattis warned North Korea on October 28 that the country is not a worthy opponent of the US-South Korea alliance.

Any attack on the United States or its allies would be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons by North Korea would be met with a massive military response, he told a news conference in Seoul.

According to VNE