North Korea marks military anniversary with firing drill as US submarine arrives in South Korea

North Korean soldiers walk in front of bronze statues of North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung and late leader Kim Jong Il at Mansudae in Pyongyang on April 25, 2017. Kyodo / via Reuters

SEOUL // North Korea marked a military anniversary with a massive conventional firing drill on Tuesday, as a US guided-missile submarine docked in South Korea amid tensions over Pyongyang’s weapons ambitions.

Speculation had mounted that the North could carry out a sixth nuclear test or another missile launch to mark 85 years since the founding of its army. But no such event – which usually happens in the morning – took place by mid-afternoon.

Instead Seoul’s defence ministry said Pyongyang was conducting a “massive fire drill” in the eastern port city of Wonsan.

The South’s Yonhap news agency cited a government source as saying the exercise was the North’s “largest ever” and presumed to have been overseen by leader Kim Jong-un.

The exercise took place as the nuclear-powered USS Michigan, a US guided-missile submarine capable of launching cruise missiles, arrived at the southern South Korean port of Busan on Tuesday, while envoys from the US, Japan and South Korea met in Tokyo to discuss the growing threat posed by North's nuclear weapons and missiles programme.

South Korea’s navy said it had no plans for a joint military drill with the submarine.

Washington has sent the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to the Korean peninsula, where it is expected to arrive later this week.

Confusion had clouded the carrier’s whereabouts earlier this month after US officials indicated it was sailing towards North Korea when in fact it was heading south.

The vessel will take part in joint naval drills with the South’s forces to “demonstrate Seoul and Washington’s strong determination to punish North Korean provocations”, the South Korean navy said.

They will take place in the Sea of Japan, and the two allies will also begin joint naval exercises in the West Sea on Tuesday “in relation to the current security situation”.

President Donald Trump has said the US was sending an “armada” to the Korean peninsula, including submarines.

According to the US navy's Submarine Force Pacific website, the USS Michigan carries more than 150 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

They are capable of precision strikes against the North’s nuclear facilities, but the South Korean navy called the visit “routine”.

North Korea has ambitions to build a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the US mainland. Tensions have soared in recent months as it carried out a string of missile tests that sparked tit-for-tat sabre-rattling between it and Washington.

Pyongyang’s rhetoric always intensifies in the spring, when Seoul and Washington hold joint military drills which it sees as rehearsals for an invasion.

The North’s Rodong Sinmun – the official mouthpiece of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea – warned on Tuesday of dire consequences in the event of a US-led pre-emptive strike.

It promised “the most brutal punishment ... in the sky and land as well as at sea and from underwater without any warning or prior notice”.

North Korea launched two missile tests this month while Mr Trump and his senior aides have warned that “all options are on the table” against Pyongyang, including military action.

Mr Trump on Monday urged UN Security Council ambassadors to consider stronger sanctions against Pyongyang, and US senators will be briefed on North Korea at the White House on Wednesday.

Secretary of state Rex Tillerson will be leading a ministerial-level Security Council meeting on the North on Friday.

* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press