North Korea has reacted sharply to forthcoming joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea, saying such drills are raising tension on the Korean peninsula and pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war.
North Korea’s state news agency KCNA published remarks by a foreign ministry spokesperson on Friday saying that military cooperation between the United States, South Korea and Japan was steadily turning into a “nuclear alliance”. In response, Pyongyang warned that it would build deterrence of a new order to match threats of a new order.
The joint US-South Korean exercise Ulchi Freedom Shield will be held in South Korea from Aug 17 to Aug 27. It will include training to counter drone attacks, disruption of GPS systems and cyber attacks.
Officers of the combined US-South Korean forces command say this year’s training has been designed with the new realities of modern warfare and North Korea’s changing military capabilities in mind. About 18,000 South Korean troops will take part, alongside members of the roughly 28,500 US forces stationed in the country.
The United States and South Korea are also concerned about North Korean troops’ experience of the war between Russia and Ukraine. US military officials say North Korea could use lessons from that war to strengthen its own military capability. The large-scale exercises by the United States and its allies in South Korea are expected to raise tension on the peninsula again.
North Korea has recently conducted two ballistic missile tests in quick succession, most recently on Wednesday, when it fired a missile towards the sea off the peninsula’s east coast. Pyongyang said it would further strengthen its nuclear deterrent in response to US military moves. North Korea says the United States is lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons and pushing the world towards a more dangerous situation.
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