SEOUL, Feb 7, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - North Korea's top army officials have said 
they will expand and intensify military drills to ensure their readiness for 
war, state media reported Tuesday, ahead of a massive parade.

The pledge came at a Monday meeting overseen by leader Kim Jong Un and 
follows last week's staging of joint air drills by South Korea and the United 
States.

The agenda was topped by "the issue of constantly expanding and intensifying 
the operation and combat drills of the (Korean People's Army) ... strictly 
perfecting the preparedness for war", the official Korean Central News Agency 
said.

The meeting of North Korea's central military commission comes as commercial 
satellite imagery suggests "extensive parade preparations" are underway in 
Pyongyang ahead of key state holidays this month.

North Korea celebrates the founding anniversary of its armed forces on 
Wednesday and the "Day of the Shining Star" on February 16. The latter is the 
birthday of Kim Jong Il, son of North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung and father 
of Kim Jong Un.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday it was closely monitoring 
areas surrounding Pyongyang's parade training ground, adding it had seen a 
"great increase in personnel and vehicles" in recent days.

- North Korean balloon -

Seoul and Washington have moved to bolster joint military drills following a 
year of sanctions-busting weapons tests by North Korea, infuriating 
Pyongyang, which sees such joint exercises as rehearsals for invasion.

Last week, the security allies staged joint air drills featuring strategic 
bombers and stealth fighters, prompting Pyongyang to warn such exercises 
could "ignite an all-out showdown".

The joint exercises, their first this year, came a day after US Defense 
Secretary Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart vowed to boost 
security cooperation to counter an increasingly belligerent nuclear-armed 
North.

North Korea's foreign minister has said the move to ramp up joint drills 
crossed "an extreme red line".

On Monday, Seoul's defence ministry said a North Korean balloon had crossed 
over to its airspace at the weekend, but concluded it did not pose a threat.

It was believed to be a weather balloon, Yonhap News agency reported, citing 
officials, and the ministry said it had taken "measures" without elaborating.

The report came after Washington shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance 
balloon, with Beijing saying that it was a civilian airship that had 
accidentally crossed into US airspace.

- Beef up military -

Experts say Monday's meeting of North Korea's top brass aimed to highlight 
the country's readiness to face down upcoming joint military drills between 
South Korea and the United States -- and also stress it was prepared for an 
actual war.

"North Korea is hinting about the possibility of military action in the 
future in the name of operational and combat training and war preparedness," 
said Hong Min, researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, 
added that the meeting signalled Pyongyang's determination to "aggressively 
beef up its military".

Kim recently called for an "exponential" increase in Pyongyang's nuclear 
arsenal, including mass-producing tactical nuclear weapons and developing new 
missiles for nuclear counterstrikes.

Kim has also said his country must "overwhelmingly beef up military muscle" 
in 2023 in response to what Pyongyang calls US and South Korean hostility.