The DPRK Foreign Ministry has promised an unprecedentedly strong and sustained response to the US and South Korean plan to expand military exercises if they put it into action, the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reports.
Earlier, as a result of talks between South Korean and US defense ministers in January, they agreed to increase the pace and scope of joint military exercises and intelligence sharing, as well as to hold trilateral talks on security cooperation with Japan.
“The United States and South Korea are planning more than 20 joint military exercises during this year and are about to conduct them on the scale of the largest field training in history, which portends that the Korean Peninsula and the situation in the region will again be plunged into a maelstrom of intense tension,” the statement said. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK.
In March, South Korea and the United States are due to host a full-scale joint exercise, Freedom Shield, for the first time since 2018, which will include field maneuvers, combat simulations, and war games.
“If the US and South Korea carry out their exercise plan, which we consider to be preparations for war and invasion on legitimate grounds and express concern, they will face a strong and prolonged unprecedented response that has not been seen before,” the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman promised.