North Korea strongly protested the South Korea-U.S. and South Korea-U.S.-Japan joint drills scheduled for the 15th to 19th and warned of blowback.
Kim Yo-jong, deputy department director of the Workers' Party, said in a statement released via the Korean Central News Agency on the 14th that the South Korea-U.S. integrated nuclear-conventional tabletop exercise (TTX) "Iron Mace" and the South Korea-U.S.-Japan multi-domain exercise "Freedom Edge" were "picked in the wrong place — that is, around the Democratic People's Republic of Korea — and the reckless show of force that the U.S., Japan, and South Korea are putting on through their actions will certainly bring about bad results for themselves," she argued.
Kim said, "We have already called attention to how dangerous a 'concept' the 'guidelines on nuclear deterrence and nuclear operations on the Korean Peninsula' fabricated by the U.S. and South Korea are," adding, "If the current rulers, fully aware, sympathize with and implement the dangerous 'concept' devised by the former rulers, we will take it as an unfiltered 'display' of an explicitly anti-republic confrontational stance and as a 'succession' of a confrontation policy." Although she did not mention President Lee Jae-myung and U.S. President Donald Trump by name, it is seen as expressing displeasure with the current government for continuing the South Korea-U.S. joint drills like the previous administration.
Pak Jong-chon, vice chairman of the party Central Military Commission and the top-ranked figure in the military, also issued a statement, defining the South Korea-U.S.-Japan drills as "an overt nuclear war demonstration with the aim of using nuclear weapons against our state" and "the most comprehensive and offensive invasion-war exercise."
He warned, "If the hostile forces' shows of strength continue, our corresponding counteractions will also be expressed more clearly and with greater intensity." He went on to suggest an intention to strengthen nuclear and conventional forces, saying, "In the current situation where all sorts of unjust actions by rival countries are being systematically expanded, we will make a very responsible choice."
North Korea's statement this time appeared only on the external Korean Central News Agency, not on domestic propaganda outlets.