N.Korea conducts massive artillery drill

North Korea has reportedly put on a massive live-fire drill marking the foundation of its military, as a US submarine  docks in South Korea amid growing concern over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

The port call by the USS Michigan comes as a US aircraft carrier strike group steams for Korean waters and the top nuclear envoys from South Korea, Japan, and the US meet in Tokyo to discuss the North's refusal to give up its nuclear program.
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported the North appeared to have on Tuesday deployed a large number of long-range artillery units and conducted a large-scale live firing drill in the region of Wonsan on its east coast.
The report, citing an unidentified government source, said the live-fire exercise was possibly supervised by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The South's Defence Ministry could not confirm the report.
Fears in recent weeks have risen North Korea could soon conduct another nuclear test or missile launch in defiance of United Nations sanctions.
It state media commentary marking the 85th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People's Army's that its military was prepared "to bring to closure the history of US scheming and nuclear blackmail".
"There is no limit to the strike power of the People's Army armed with our style of cutting-edge military equipment including various precision and miniaturised nuclear weapons and submarine-launched ballistic missiles," the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a front-page editorial.
South Korea's Navy said it was conducting a live-fire exercise with US Navy destroyers on Tuesday in waters west of the Korean peninsula and would soon join the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group approaching the region.
However South Korean newspapers are questioning whether Trump is tuning out South Korea after he skipped calling Seoul during his phone conversations with his counterparts in Beijing and Tokyo on Sunday.
The JoongAng Ilbo daily said in an editorial that South Korea shouldn't be excluded from critical discussions surrounding North Korea, because "the destiny of our nation could be at stake."
On Monday Trump called for tougher new UN sanctions on Pyongyang, saying the North was a global threat and "a problem that we have to finally solve".
The official China Daily said on Tuesday it was time for Pyongyang and Washington to take a step back from harsh rhetoric and heed the voices of reason calling for a peaceful resolution.