North Korea warns of ‘toughest response’ to upcoming joint South Korea-US military drill

North Korea issued a warning to Seoul on Friday, threatening the “toughest response” should the annual joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States proceed in the coming weeks.

South Korea and the United States will pay a “horrible” price for the drills, said a commentary on the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“The enemy states will have to pay dearly for their foolish and reckless war drills, which will lead to a self-defensive, fair, and square, threatening, toughest response from North Korea,” it added.

Pyongyang’s warning came a day after South Korea and the US militaries announced that the Freedom Shield exercise will kick off on Monday for an 11-day run, involving computer-simulated drills and on-field training.

“The Freedom Shield has repeatedly undergone its worst modifications, fully equipped with all malicious signs. This will soon bring a storm of aggravating the security situation to the Korean Peninsula,” KCNA highlighted, criticizing Seoul and Washington for holding the annual springtime exercises as a continuous infringement on North Korea’s sovereign rights and interests and a risk to regional stability.

North Korea slams US military provocations

The Democratic People

It condemned the Seoul and Washington militaries for their planned increase in the number of large-scale on-field drills from 10 in 2024 to 16 in 2025.

North Korea stressed that the enemies’ “war frenzy” is rising on a steep upward curve to a dangerously high level.

It stated that if the US continues its “military muscle-flexing,” Pyongyang will have “no option but to renew” its “strategic deterrence,” calling the counteraction “inevitable.”

North Korea has long denounced the allies’ joint military drills as rehearsals for an invasion.

Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, last week, slammed the arrival of the USS Carl Vinson, as well as other US military activities, as “confrontation hysteria of the US and its stooges.”

She warned that North Korea’s military would “renew” its strategic deterrence after the US aircraft carrier arrived at a South Korean naval base in Busan.

She said the Trump administration is obviously putting “its most hostile and confrontational will” on display to North Korea with the deployment of the USS Carl Vinson and the joint military drills.

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