North Korean leader directs island assault drill: report

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un warned the South would "regret bitterly" any incursion of their disputed sea border as he directed a large-scale mock assault on an island, state media said Saturday.

The joint landing drill involving the army, navy and air force followed a series of missile tests in the past week -- seen by some as a display of pique over Chinese President Xi Jinping's two-day state visit to Seoul.

The mock assault is apparently aimed at five islands controlled by the South near the southwestern part of North Korea.

Seoul suspects these islands, which provide outposts for the South, would be the first target for the North in case of an armed conflict.

"Participating in the drill were combatants, artillery pieces of various calibres, combat ships including submarines, and formations of pursuit fighters, bombers and transport planes of units," the North's Korean Central News Agency said.

Kim watched the North Korean forces successively pounding the mock enemy positions through "the well-organised coordinated operation as required by the modern warfare".View gallery

"Deadly firepower strikes" on the island were followed by infantry landings and paratroops, the agency said.