North Korea threatened on August 19 regarding the US-South Korea joint military exercise 'Ulchi Freedom Shield' (UFS), stating, "Our exercise of self-defense rights to thoroughly neutralize the military threats from our adversaries will be expressed in more explicit actions."
While President Donald Trump has recently directed a reduction in US-South Korea joint exercises as a gesture of goodwill toward North Korea, and US and South Korean military authorities are discussing plans for this reduction, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) did not mention these developments at all.
In a commentary released that day, KCNA stated, "It is necessary to respond to the increasingly evolving threatening actions of our adversaries with a new and advanced force."
The commentary warned that adversaries infringing upon the sovereignty and security of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) would fall under the scope of constant and devastating retaliatory measures, adding, "All invasion war exercises by adversary countries will never yield the results they desire."
KCNA criticized the UFS, detailing its content, format, and scale, claiming it is undergoing a perilous evolution each time. It described the participation of the United Nations Command in the exercises as a "serious development" that is reviving and expanding its combat functions.
The agency asserted, "The Korean Peninsula, which borders our country, is not just a training ground for the US-South Korea military alliance but is becoming a gathering place for multinational invasion forces targeting the security of our country and the autonomous nations in the region, as well as a demonstration site for modern warfare."
It further stated, "The ongoing exercises, which have been frantically conducted for over ten days, are bringing the already tense situation on the Korean Peninsula to a 'critical point' for the outbreak of war," warning that the dangerous escalation of war exercises poses a more severe threat to the security of our republic, which will lead to further deterioration of the situation in the Korean Peninsula and the Asia-Pacific region."
Im Ul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Far East Institute, noted, "We need to observe further, but it is highly likely that President Trump's remarks on 'reducing exercises' will continue to be ignored. North Korea may feel the need to exaggerate threats to maintain its military response justification if it mentions the training reduction controversy."
Professor Im added, "The fact that this is a commentary from KCNA rather than a direct declaration from Kim Yo-jong, the head of the Workers' Party's General Affairs Department, or a spokesperson from the Ministry of National Defense indicates a level of restraint."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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